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The boss of Israel’s Jerusalem Film Festival, Roni Mahadav-Levin, has written an open letter urging Palestinian filmmakers to take part in next year’s edition.
“To artists around the world, and specifically to Palestinian
filmmakers, my call to you is this: grab the opportunity to reach the public in our cinema halls,” Mahadav-Levin wrote in the open letter, which is published in full below.
Of this year’s festival, which concluded Sunday, he said: “When the lights went down in our theaters, the audience was not a monolith. The cinemas were filled with diverse crowds, Jews and Arabs, secular and religious citizens, locals and internationals. For a few hours, they were united by a shared narrative on the screen. The debates that sparked in the lobby afterward, confronting uncomfortable truths about our society or sharing moments of profound empathy, were the building blocks of a resilient society. This is where hardline narratives are challenged. This is where the status quo is disrupted.”
The 43rd edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival opened July 9 and ran until July 19. While there continue to be calls for boycott of all Israeli-linked film institutions, a number of Palestinian and Arab-Israeli filmmakers participated in this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival.
Palestinian actor Ehab Elias Salami, who appears in Assaf Machnes’s feature “Where To?,” won the festival’s award for best acting performance. The festival also screened a compilation of short films, titled “All That Remains,” by six Palestinian filmmakers, curated by Fadi Far.
Mahadav-Levin hopes more will participate next year.
“Boycotts and cultural withdrawal do not punish the hardliners; they empower them,” he writes in his letter. “In a bitter irony, the hardliners who wish to censor art and the boycotters who seek to block audiences from seeing it end up sharing a common interest: both ultimately work to silence the discourse, isolate the public, and keep people divided. When you block your film from certain audiences, you are doing the censors’ work for them. Let your art confront, challenge, and inspire the audiences who need to engage with your perspectives right now.”
Read the full letter from Roni Mahadav-Levin, executive director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and the Jerusalem Film Festival, below:
“On July 9, the 43rd edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival opened with the premiere of “Tell Me Everything” by director Moshe Rosenthal. Over the ensuing ten days, we were deeply honored to showcase the year’s most vital cinema, hosting a robust delegation of international directors, actors, and industry professionals.
However, organizing a film festival in a complex, mixed city like Jerusalem, under Israel’s current hardline government, and following years in which a devastating conflict has deeply scarred our region, was not a task we took lightly.
It should go without saying that the presence of global cinema and the more than thirty industry international guests, actors, directors, producers and scriptwriters, who chose to participate this year was not an endorsement of the Israeli government’s hardline policies. Rather, it was an affirmation of the power of culture, dialogue, and artistic exchange to resist the forces of extremism, challenge division, and keep democratic discourse alive.
The threats to democracy we face today are not isolated to the Middle East. We watch the political chaos and deep polarization unfolding in the United States, we saw how creeping authoritarianism was overturned in Hungary, and we followed courageous, ongoing uprisings in Iran and elsewhere around the world. Across the globe, populist leaders and fundamentalist factions attempt to consolidate power by dividing populations and silencing dissent.
Recent history, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall, has taught us a vigorous lesson: dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, and populist governments are rarely dismantled by the force of external wars or diplomatic isolation. They are overthrown from within. Real change is driven by the people themselves, whether through the ballot box, however tempered the elections may be, or through widespread demonstrations and civil resistance.
To empower those internal movements, we must keep the channels of cultural conversation wide open. The presence of dozens of international artists and filmmakers who joined us in Jerusalem this year is an acknowledgment that true exchange happens between individuals, regardless of their nationalities, alliances, or sociological identities. Throughout the festival, Israeli, Palestinian, and international stories were presented side by side, inviting audiences to engage with experiences, perspectives, and realities that might otherwise remain distant. Films, festival guests, and the festival itself do not represent nations or governments; they reflect the shared human condition.
When the lights went down in our theaters, the audience was not a monolith. The cinemas were filled with diverse crowds, Jews and Arabs, secular and religious citizens, locals and internationals. For a few hours, they were united by a shared narrative on the screen. The debates that sparked in the lobby afterward, confronting uncomfortable truths about our society or sharing moments of profound empathy, were the building blocks of a resilient society. This is where hardline narratives are challenged. This is where the status quo is disrupted.
If we truly believe in the universal values of humanity, civil rights, and freedom, we should aggressively encourage the exhibition of global cinema to citizens directly wherever they are. It is a powerful conduit for empathy and resistance. Therefore, when given the chance to bridge these divides, it is reckless to look the other way.
To artists around the world, and specifically to Palestinian filmmakers, my call to you is this: grab the opportunity to reach the public in our cinema halls. With the Israeli public going to the polls in just three months, this remains a critical, fragile moment. It is both counterproductive and ultimately irresponsible to retreat into ideological purism by removing yourself from the cultural arena in the very place that needs your voice the most.
Boycotts and cultural withdrawal do not punish the hardliners; they empower them. In a bitter irony, the hardliners who wish to censor art and the boycotters who seek to block audiences from seeing it end up sharing a common interest: both ultimately work to silence the discourse, isolate the public, and keep people divided. When you block your film from certain audiences, you are doing the censors’ work for them. Let your art confront, challenge, and inspire the audiences who need to engage with your perspectives right now.
I truly hope that Israel, Palestine, and our entire region are heading toward better days soon. But getting there requires brave engagement, reflection, and art, not silence. Now is the time to lean in. Be part of this change. Be brave. Be heard.”
