Lapid: Festivals Brave on Iran, 'Terrified' Over Israel
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- Nadav Lapid withdrew from his juror role at Marseille's FID Festival after a boycott campaign by fellow filmmakers, and told Variety he was 'astonished' by the wave of support that followed from Natalie Portman, Justine Triet, Jacques Audiard and hundreds of other film figures
- Lapid rejected the antisemitism framing of the boycott, calling it instead a 'state of mind' born of horror at Gaza, the absence of real sanctions on Israel, and an 'obsession with purity instead of courage or urgency'
- Lapid argued festivals find it 'very easy to be brave' with Iranian or Russian dissidents because 'there aren't many mullahs at the festival gates,' but become 'terrified' by the political fallout of Israel-Palestine programming, choosing 'the comfortable option: let's talk about something else'
- Lapid defended the Israel Film Fund's backing of his film 'Yes' as a 'blistering attack on Israeli nationalism,' but warned the fund's independence is 'increasingly fragile' amid what he termed Israel's ongoing 'fascistization,' saying 'in a week or two, it may no longer be true'
- Lapid noted that while his previous films 'Synonyms' (Golden Bear, Berlin) and 'Ahed's Knee' (Jury Prize, Cannes) earned major slots, 'Yes' world premiered at Directors' Fortnight rather than Cannes' official selection
- Lapid contrasted the intensity of the debate over his masterclass with the world's largest arms fair 'warmly receiving Israeli dealers showing off products whose effectiveness they've just demonstrated in Gaza and Lebanon,' arguing the real political forces benefit from the cultural infighting
Why it matters: Lapid, a Golden Bear and Cannes Jury Prize winner now in self-imposed exile in France since 2021, is using the FID controversy to argue that European cultural institutions apply a double standard — freely programming Iranian and Russian dissidents while retreating from Israel-Palestine work — and to warn that Israel's already-narrow window for state-funded critical cinema may be closing within weeks.
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