Pressure on Venice festival to take clear position on Gaza suffering

Dozens of Hollywood A-listers will descend on the Venice film festival this week, but activists hope to shift the spotlight from the red carpet to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

- Nadia Khomami

With an anti-war demonstration planned for one of the festival's biggest nights on Saturday, questions over the biennale's stance on Gaza dominated yesterday's launch event.

Scores of local political and grassroots organisations are expected to join the march, running under the title Stop the Genocide - Free Palestine.

More than 1,500 people - including industry figures - have signed an open letter from Venice4Palestine (V4P) calling on the festival "to be more courageous and clear in condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing across Palestine carried out by the Israeli government and army".

They have also urged the organisers to withdraw invitations to the actors Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot over their previous support for Israel - both star in Julian Schnabel's new film In The Hand of Dante, which is premiering on the Lido.

Gadot has spoken out against Hamas and in support of the Israeli hostages but has also called for a diplomatic solution to the Gaza-Israel conflict.

Butler attended a gala for the Friends of the IDF in Los Angeles in 2018 but has not commented publicly on the events in Israel and Gaza since 7 October 2023.