Midnight Madness For ‘Breaking Dawn’ DVD 
BAFTA Awards: What ‘Artist’, Dujardin, Streep … 
64th BAFTA Awards Winners: ‘The Artist’, Meryl … 
BAFTA 2012 Preview: Very British Affair Takes On … 
RECORD-BREAKING WEEKEND! 4 Films Open $20+M: ‘The … 
Remembered: Jennifer Hudson To Perform Whitney Houston … 
Live From NY, It’s Jean Dujardin On 
R.I.P. Whitney Houston 
TOLDJA! Indomina-BET Buy Sundance ‘LUV’ 
Saoirse Ronan Bigger Teen Action Queen 
WME Signs Writer-Director Jon Kasdan 
‘Glee’s Jane Lynch Joins Indie Film Comedy 
Universal Revives ‘Dracula Year Zero’ With … 
Jodie Foster Sending Mel Gibson Film ‘The … 
‘Roseanne’ Reunion: John Goodman To Co-Star In … 
UPDATE: Closing Arguments Conclude In Golden Globes Trial; … 
Series Adaptation Of ‘Legion’ With … 
Lionsgate Calms Investors With Talk About Charlie Sheen, … 
Ridley Scott Commits To Next Direct McCarthy’s … 
Marvel Studio’s Tim Connors Defects To Legendary As … 
UPDATE: Warner Bros Lawyers Dig In Garbage Over ‘The … 
I’m sure you are all aware of the protest taking place at the Toronto Film Festival condemning the organizers’ choice of Tel Aviv for an inaugural City-to-City Spotlight. Many of the participants have denounced this “celebratory spotlight on a city of “an apartheid regime”, and sent an open letter accusing the festival of, “whether intentionally or not, [becoming] complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine”. They organized an open letter, and the signatories include Danny Glover, Jane Fonda, David Byrne, Ken Loach and others. Canadian filmmaker John Greyson withdrew his short film after learning of the Tel Aviv spotlight. In response to this, I’ve learned there will be a full-page ad running Monday in Canada’s Globe and Mail signed by Hollywood players on the other side of this issue:
Loading ...
It is interesting, Danny Glover supports Hugo Chavez, a dictator who “disappears” political opponents and shuts down the media, yet has the gall to criticize Israel.
And don’t forget Jane Fonda’s support of North Vietnam (who engaged in mass-genocide and war crimes).
No, actually Hugo Chavez was democractically elected. Our CIA tried to overthrow him with a very undemocratic, illegal military coup, but it didn’t quite work out.
Facts.
Now, if you’re bright enough to turn on a computer, you should be bright enough to learn the meaning of words before you use them. I understand that you would like Hugo Chavez to be dictator. That would be, I guess, comforting to you somehow. But you can say it a million times while wetting your bed, and it still won’t make it a fact. So sorry.
As for Israel, what kind of democracy denies rights to certain citizens on the basis of religion or ethnicity?
Apartheid just ain’t the move, jack. Didn’t work out well for South Africa (who Israel closely supported during the years, sadly) and it ain’t gonna work out well for anyone else.
And since when it a protest a blacklist? Yeah, funny how people like to project certain terms for PR points now isn’t it?
You’re wrong. All Israeli citizens have the same rights. Although, Arab Israelis are not required to serve in the military though quite a few do so voluntarily. In fact, Israeli Arabs have far more rights than Arabs do in any Arab country.
A correction/ fact in reply to Nikki Fink, by Lily An (lilyan@canoemail.com):
I just returned from a holiday in Israel. It is a country very diverse, both religiously (home of countless religious bases, including Islam, Christian/Orthodox, Judaism & Bahai) and ethnically (descended of communities all over the world–both typically Judeo/Christian and Arab). ‘Palestinians’ (a historical name for Jews who resided in the geographical mass called Palestine as well) who are not recognized as are their Arab Israeli counterparts with full rights of Israeli citizenship suffer from a choice neither to support nor to comply with the constitutive laws of the land. Their exclusion from the state of Israel is not based on religion or on ethnicity, as almost half of the citizens of this state (who are Arab in origin exactly like ‘Palestinians’) attest by virtue of their existence in this multicultural society. An impetus to bestow citizenship to dissidents should not be imposed by outside pressure when the duty of governance at the most elemental level requires preventing terrorist acts and collective efforts toward the collapse of the state.
The call for a boycott of the City To City section is such a sad and pathetic effort. The vast preponderance of signatories to the boycott letter have not seen any of the films being presented and there is nothing less honorable as an artist than the call for an end of discourse. They, of course, attempt to draw parallels to boycotts of South Africa under apartheid and, putting aside factual issues, they are completely wrong.
Economic boycotts are completely legitimate. I don’t patronize institutions that I don’t want to support and if enough people do that then the company (or in the this case, government) will change what it does. However an intellectual and artistic boycott is a supremely self-destructive thing to do. These signatories are, despite their protestations to the contrary, rejecting a dialogue with filmmakers, many of whom are deeply critical and analytical of Israel’s politics. They are the same people that applaud Obama’s call for talking with people and yet they are trying to stifle voices.
Further, they have, in essence, called Cameron Bailey at Toronto a liar. He wrote an eloquent response to Greyson in which he stated that the section was his creation and conception. Greyson et al are saying that’s not true and that it’s part of some dark and scary propaganda effort by the Israeli Government. They should not play games, if they want to call TIFF and Mr. Bailey liars then have a spine and do it but they would rather hem and haw and play whack-a-mole with their arguments.
Mr. Bailey and TIFF are doing the right thing. Regardless of your feelings about Israel’s politics, the filmmakers from that region have been producing some of the most impressive work of the last few years and looking at it more closely is entirely reasonable. To attempt a boycott of artistic works you’ve never seen is the actions of the scared and the simple minded.
In a misguided attempt to be supportive of Palestinians, the people urging a boycott of Tel Aviv at a film festival in Canada are, as my grandmother used to say, “doing Hitler’s work for him.” That may sound harsh. But there is more than a whiff, not just of self-righteousness, but of anti-semitism, in this protest.
Criticize Israel? Fine. Single out Israel for condemnation, exclusion and hatred? Not fine. Not “cool”.
I agree. We do not need another blacklist. Filmmaker Aviva Kempner (“Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg”) has pointed out that many of the films they are attempting to blacklist employ Palestinian actors and are expressions from Israeli filmmakers, indicating a need for justice for all persons, including the Palestinians.
To crowd out these necessary voices is wrong-headed.
What makes this doubly-sad is that Tel Aviv is the most liberal of Israeli cities – both politically and socially.
And there are countless people in the Israeli film industry who are publicly critical of their government’s policies, and turn out work that backs it up. Even a casual survey of Israeli film in the last ten years reveals dozens of films that examine with sensitivity and humanism the tragic Israeli-Palestinian divide, and the broader Middle East conflict.
But boycott is a blunt weapon … and art is often the first casualty of politics.
It should not be shocking. Danny Glover, a guy who worships Chavez? A leader who this month has made moves to close even more free press outlets. Jews in hollywood like Ari want to blacklist a drunk Mel Gibson for saying stupid shit, and nothing about a guy who will probably dance the jig WHEN Iran bombs Israel and is active in anti-Israel politics? Democratic liberals in hollywood should understand the difference between themselves and the new breed of “progressive” radicals who have taken over our party. The democratic party is no longer a pro Israel party. And I have no problem saying you are an anti American, anti semetic prick mr. Glover. Never again means fighting back now. Not after the fact.
Excuse me but, if CNN got caught cooperating with a Russian attempt to overthough President Bush during a military coup, do you think they would keep their broadcast license?
Learn the facts, please. Thank you!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised_(documentary)
“…privately owned television channels, business and upper class opposition, who accuse Chávez of being an insane communist dictator. The documentary then moves to show how the media promoted demonstrations against Chávez and worked together with some military and big businessmen opposition to create an anti-Chávez climate leading to the day of the coup.
On 11 April 2002, the opposition finally organized a big demonstration that went to Miraflores presidential palace to demand Chávez’s resignation. But a huge crowd of Chavistas was waiting at Miraflores to support the president.
The film shows Chávez’s supporters being shot down by snipers, and then some controversial footage of Chavistas shooting back, which the private media channels then used to say the Chávez’s supporters shot at the unarmed anti-Chávez crowd, when they were actually shooting towards an empty street with armoured vans from where the shots against them were coming.”
While I respect the free speech right of Danny Glover, Jane Fonda, David Byrne, Ken Loach and others they should get their facts straight before protesting and think before acting. This should not be about the whole Jewish-Arab issue, it should be about the filmmakers who I’m sure have poured their hearts, time and money into making the films that will be presented. Jane Fonda and others need to learn that being a “celeb” does not make their opinions any more valuable than yours or mine.
Of course, LA Law, being an Israeli doesn’t mean THEIR opinions are any more valuable than yours or mine.
To attack artists because you disagree with their Government is the worst kind of fascism…And Fonda, Glover, Byrne etc are either innocent or ignorant.. What would happen if Fonda, Glover, etc were banned from festivals because of the Bush Administration’s policies. It’s the same thing.
I wonder if Fonda, Glover, Loach, etc. would have wanted American films banned from a film festival during the Bush administration, since they disagreed with the politics of the country at that time?
Wow! How did they get Danny Glover and Ken Loach to sign their petition? These Jew Haters would be ridiculous, if they weren’t so scary.
I think Robert Lantos in his OpEd piece in the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail 9/10/09 is required reading for anyone wanting to separate fact from fiction. (see below)
The OpEd by Robert Lantos:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/theres-justice-and-then-theres-propaganda/article1281264/
Robert Lantos
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
Last updated on Friday, Sep. 11, 2009 03:11AM EDT
I am not a professional agitator and I don’t write political missives for a living. I am a filmmaker, however, and I have a very long history with the Toronto International Film Festival, which I have had the honour of opening 10 times. I write this from the set of Mordecai Richler’s Barney’s Version, whose hero, Barney Panofsky, would undoubtedly share my view: Enough is enough!
There is a difference between most people and professional propagandists. The latter serve their cause by repeating a false statement of “fact” so often and with such emphasis that decent people think there must at least be a modicum of truth to it.
This age-old but effective propaganda technique has, as of late, given rise to such blatant falsehoods as “Israeli apartheid,” or, to quote Naomi Klein’s open letter to TIFF last week, “The city of Jaffa [was] Palestine’s main cultural hub until 1948.” This seemingly factual statement fails to mention the detail that there was no such thing as Palestine prior to 1948. The city of Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 in what was then a Turkish colony, later a British colony and once upon a time a Roman colony, consisting of lands from which the indigenous Jewish population had been forcefully – though never fully – evicted.
The headline of last week’s open letter, protesting the focus on films by Tel Aviv filmmakers, was “No celebration of occupation,” which incorrectly implies that Tel Aviv is occupied territory. We are not talking about the West Bank or the Golan Heights here, but the biggest population centre in the heart of Israel, where the first neighbourhood was built in 1887. If that is disputed territory, then Ms. Klein and her armchair storm troopers are clamouring for nothing short of the annihilation of the Jewish state. They are effectively Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s local fifth column.
The Toronto festival is showcasing movies made by filmmakers from Tel Aviv. This foul and coercive attempt to disrupt the display of their talent simply because they are citizens of the Jewish state is not just an Israeli issue. It is a Canadian issue. It is an assault on our most cherished values, on the very reason why my family chose to immigrate to this country. In Canada, we hold our freedom of expression sacred. Filmmaking is free of political censorship and festivals are free to program whatever they wish.
TIFF’s independence was hard won. In 1978, when my first movie, In Praise of Older Women, was shown at the opening-night gala, the Ontario Censor Board attempted to prevent it from being shown, demanding cuts. The fundamental logic of censorship is premised on the principle of in loco parentis: that the censor knows better what’s good for people than they know themselves. We defied the censors and my film was shown uncut. In the 30 years since, the festival has operated without interference or sanctions. Until now.
I don’t hold with the lashing of women for the “crime” of wearing trousers, but I don’t believe the festival should boycott films from Malaysia. I’m not a fan of Iran’s dictatorship, but that doesn’t give me the right to demand the festival cancel Iranian film screenings.
Ironically, the boycott Tel Aviv affair began over filmmaker John Greyson’s decision to withdraw his short documentary Covered to protest the presence of Israeli films. His film documents the disruption, by local homophobes, of the Sarajevo Queer Film Festival.
As Mr. Greyson, Ms. Klein and their mob know perfectly well, Israel is the only country in its region where a film like his could be made and shown without government interference, and where no one is persecuted or discriminated against because of his or her sexual persuasion. The protesters obediently kowtow to the party line of autocratic regimes and terrorist organizations who would not hesitate, given the opportunity, to dispatch Mr. Greyson and his film to a painful fate, which regardless of our differences, I would not wish on anyone.
Let us be clear. If Ms. Klein was truly interested in justice, she would be alarmed by the screening of films from countries such as China and Iran, where civil liberties are in short supply. She would be marching in front of the theatre showing the film from Malaysia. But their crusade is against a tried and thoroughly tested target: Jews. Today, it is Jewish filmmakers from Tel Aviv who are in their sights, but their ultimate objective is far more ambitious and devastating.
So I repeat – enough is enough. Their brand of censorship is at odds with our society’s fundamental values: freedom of expression and freedom of individual choice. Incitement like theirs has no place at TIFF.
Robert Lantos is an award-winning film producer.
The way I see it, it is no shocker that an anti-semetic, Israel hating, and America resenting prick like Danny Glover is all over this. A guy who sits with Chavez (who is closing free media as we speak) and touts him? Jewish democrats should wake up to the progressive liberal movement that has taken over our party.This new breed of Democrat is no friend of Israel. This little film fest blacklist issue sheds light on the larger anti-Israel sentiment from the Huffington loving left. When Iran bombs Tel Aviv, then maybe people will wake up, though people like Danny Golver will be doing the jig and saying they deserved it. If you are a fellow Jew and do anything to help these people you are a schmuck. Never again means fighting back now, not after an event happens, when we all can cry and say why? how? lets donate!
If I disagree with a policy of the Government of Israel dose that make me an antisemite? What about Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres? They were both Prime Ministers and leaders of the opposition in their political careers. While leaders of the opposition they disagreed with many official policies. Isn’t political dissent a corner stone of democracy? Why do some equate any criticism of the government of Israel with hatred of all things Jewish?
No. I don’t like Israel very much either. I have refused to take the “Birthright” trips I have been offered because I disagree vehemently with many of the actions of the state. There are no shortage of legitimate criticisms of Israel. It is just that the vast majority of rhetoric attacks lobbed at the nation (just as with the vast majority of actual attacks) find their root in faulty, antisemitic logic.
And even this doesn’t make you an antisemite. It means that you have at least one attitude that finds its basis in antisemitism. If you look deeply, all of us have racist thoughts and feelings somewhere. But we are not defined by what we think, we are defined by what we do. Being a real antisemite comes from ignoring the facts once they are placed in front of you because of an emotional response to the shape of my nose.
Therefore, Toronto should boycott all American films as we violated the Geneva convention. This is absolute BS.
Why punish Israeli citizens who may or may not support all of their government’s actions? Should American filmmakers be punished if the United States government does something that irritates some international filmmakers?
These arguments against the Tel Aviv spotlight strike me as distinctly antisemitic (semantics police; I know both sides are Semitic people).
First off, the argument in predicated upon the assumption that all cities in Israel are unified politically. Deeper down, it actually casts all Israeli citizens as a monolithic force with no individuality. This is both a logical fallacy, and baseline bigoted. But really, the issue is that Israel is being protested where other nations would not be. To steal an example I read elsewhere; I highly doubt that any of these filmmakers would pull out of a film festival that highlighted the local art in Kansas City because of the US’s involvement in Iraq. Kansas City is permitted to be separate from the military actions of the Bush administration, and yet Tel Aviv is locked in with the (defensive) military policies of the current Israeli administration. This attitude is racist. It casts Israeli citizens (read:Jews) as subhuman. They have no individuality, no personal choice. They’re not people, they’re Jews.
Also, these protests show a lack of research. Tel Aviv was picked for a reason. It’s a very liberal city. Tel Aviv was chosen because many of the citizens and much of the art is actually about the very issue that the people signing this protest are trying to call attention to!
And yet, many otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people (it really hurts me to see Byrne’s name on this) fall all over themselves to protest the perceived evils of Israel. But in this situation, and far too many others, Israel is simply being held to a different standard than all other nations. The root cause of this “evil” seems to have more to do with the star on the flag than it does with the policies of the government.
Wouldn’t it be nice if just once these vapid talking heads would rise up against, oh, a terrorist nation, for example. As opposed to a country that has to endure terror. But the real question is, when oh when is the Wizard going to give Danny Glover a brain?
These actors would be fine with a venezuelan Film Festival or an Ieanian Film Festival. Thos is such blatant anti-Semitism? How about the Jews expelled from Arab countries? They outnumber the displaced Palestinians, Most of whom where asked to stay. Many Israeli films point out the heartbreaking plight of the Palestinians. Tel Aviv is a city of intellectuals with diverse opinions and the discussion should be encouraged. Shame on close minded actors like Jane Fonda. We never loved her for her politics anyway. The last thing artists should be doing is giving their blessing to censorship.
You are 100% right – hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from Arab countries- they should be unconditionally allowed to return to their homes in those countries! Of course now would you agree to allow the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians return to the homes they lived in for generations that is now in Israel? Of course we know the answer is “no” – now explain to us why one race should be able to return to their homes and why the other race should not?
Because the Jewish people returning to any of the surrounding nations would be murdered in extremely brutal fashion in short order.
A Palestinian citizen walking around a Islamabad might get some guff, (I honestly don’t know how other Arab nations treat or think about Palestinian nationals), but a Jewish dude is gonna be torn to shreds, perhaps literally. Do you remember the Israeli soldiers that were killed in Palestine a few years back and then torn limb from limb like a Romero movie?
Of course, your question is disingenuous because you know why Israelis cannot go into any of the surrounding nations. In fact, that’s the reason Israel exists!
What’s more, you’re conveniently leaving out the part where the Palestinian people were offered their own nation (most of Jordon, with shared control of Jerusalem) but turned it down because they knew that the five surrounding nations would attack Israel on the day of its’ creation. The expectation was that every single man, woman, and child in the vicinity would be slaughtered in short order, paving the way for Palestinians to control the whole of the region.
And again, that type of thinking is exactly why Israel exists. So that when the next round of Pogroms come Jews will have a place to run to. And you can call me paranoid, but the logic behind this letter finds its basis in The Protocols of Zion, which cased many pogroms.
And this isn’t to call Israel some great bastion of freedom. Far from it. The right wing policies of the nation are troubling and its use of White Phosphorous during the most recent warfare is completely unacceptable. If the nation wants to wall off Gaza for the safety of Israeli citizens, then the government becomes responsible for making sure that the sewage system in Gaza works. That clean water flows from taps (or is available in wells), that health care is adequate, ect. ect. The military needs to not fly F16′s low to the ground to shatter glass in Palestinian homes. The government needs to stop bulldozing the homes of suicide bombers. And I could go on, but I think you get my point. Both sides are wrong and do evil things. But your “solution” is sending the Jews back to nations where being Jewish is a capital crime is both glib and offensive.
All these brave artists speaking truth to power. Not. Danny Glover’s hero Chavez jails opponents, closes down newspapers and tv stations, and critics tend to go missing on a regular basis. Same in Iran, with the addition of stoning homosexuals to death. These idiots long to live with their necks firmly under the boot of fascists like Achmedinejad while attacking the one country in the Middle East that is open and tolerant of all religions and sexual identities. Arab citizens of Israel have more rights than they would in any arab nation.
If I’m wrong, I’ll walk into the biggest church in Saudi Arabia and apologize. What? Oh, no other religions are legal there. Well then I’ll go to the largest mosque in Mecca or Medina. What? Oh, non-muslims aren’t allowed to enter those cities. Hm.
Please learn the facts about Chavez and the media. The Fox News talking points don’t cut it here.
“Nick Fraser, Storyville Series Editor for BBC – UK, on his Commissioner’s Comment over The Revolution Will Not Be Televised said:
The result is a brilliant piece of journalism but it is also an astonishing portrait of the balance of forces in Venezuela. On one side stand the Versace wearing classes, rich from many decades of oil revenues, and on the other the poor in their barrios and those within the armed forces who support Chávez.
The media, who ought to be merely reporting the conflict splitting the country down the middle, are in fact adjuncts of the coup-makers.
Watch this film and you may truly for the first time in your life understand the term media bias.[6]
J. Hoberman, for The Village Voice says:
In addition to reporting a scoop, Bartley and O’Briain do an excellent job in deconstructing the Venezuelan TV news footage of blood, chaos, and rival crowds. As befits its title, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is nearly a textbook on media manipulation.[7]
Writing for The New York Times, Stephen Holden comments:
More than a scary close-up look at the raw mechanics of a power grab, the film is also a cautionary examination of the use of television to deceive and manipulate the public.[8]“
My God, Joe McCarthy was right.
Danny Glover, Jane Fonda, Ken Loach, Naomi Klein, have been cowardly silent as Castro rules his island as a feudal kingdom. Or, they’ve been praising that old dicator. All those folks have been silent to praising Chavez, a brutal Mussolini-wannabe who has closed synagoges and imprisoned Jews (for the crime of worshiping as Jews). All those folks have been silent to openly praising the brutal regime in Tehran, which not only threatens the US and Americans (and has killed quite a number of them, from Beirut to Khobar Towers to Buenos Aires to Iraq to Afghanistan).
Not only are Glover, Fonda, Loach, and Klein filled with hate for Israel, they are (with the exception of foreigner Loach) objectively TRAITORS for carrying Iran’s water when that brutal regime is the enemy of the American people. They are also, objectively, complicit in crimes against Humanity, in the fawning praise and celebrity cover they give the brutal, criminal regime in Iran.
Let us be honest: Glover, Fonda, Loach, and Klein would be DELIGHTED beyond measure if Tel Aviv and every other Israeli city were incinerated by Iranian nukes. They would be equally delighted if NYC or Boston or Chicago were nuked by Iran. They’d celebrate and dance in the streets.
As far as the Palestinians go, they danced in celebration of 9/11. Therefore, they are objectively the enemy of all Americans, and all true Americans would despise them and give them nothing.
No one should be shocked by this boycott — Obama shares the opinions, and would be similarly delighted if NYC or Tel Aviv were nuked by Iran. Much of the SWPL class would be delighted as well at either outcome.
From Wikipedia:
Fuck Loach!!!
Political activities
A member of the Labour Party from the early 1960s, he left in the mid-1990s.[2] In November 2004, he was elected to the national council of the Respect Coalition[2] and has also stood for election to the European Parliament on a Respect mandate. He is a supporter of the Socialist Resistance organisation.
In 2007, Loach was one of more than 100 artists and writers who signed an open letter initiated by Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism and the South West Asian, North African Bay Area Queers (SWANABAQ) and calling on the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival “to honour calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not cosponsoring events with the Israeli consulate.”[3][4] Loach also joined “54 international figures in the literary and cultural fields” in signing a letter that stated, in part, “celebrating ‘Israel at 60′ is tantamount to dancing on Palestinian graves to the haunting tune of lingering dispossession and multi-faceted injustice”. The letter was published in the International Herald Tribune on 8 May 2008.”.[5]
Responding to a report, which he described as “a red herring”, on the growth of Antisemitism since the beginning of the crisis in Gaza, he has said: “If there has been a rise I am not surprised. In fact, it is perfectly understandable because Israel feeds feelings of anti-Semitism.” He added “no-one can condone violence”.[6]
In May 2009, organizers of the Edinburgh International Film Festival returned a grant from the Israeli Embassy after speaking with Ken Loach. The director proposed a boycott of the festival if the £300 grant, which was intended to enable Tali Shalom Ezer, a graduate of Tel Aviv University, to travel to Scotland for a screening of her film Surrogate, was accepted. In response, former Channel 4 chief executive Sir Jeremy Isaacs said: “Ken Loach has always been critical of censorship of his own work, albeit it was many years in the past. The idea that he should lend himself to the denial of a film-maker’s right to show her work is absolutely appalling.” Describing Loach’s intervention as an act of censorship, he said: “They must not allow someone who has no real position, no rock to stand on, to interfere with their programming.” Later, a spokesman for the EIFF said that although it had returned £300 to the Israeli Embassy, the festival itself would fund Ms. Shalom-Ezer’s travel to Edinburgh out of its own budget.[7][8][9] In an open letter to Tali Shalom Ezer, Ken Loach wrote “To be crystal clear: as a film maker you will receive a warm welcome in Edinburgh. You are not censored or rejected.”[10] To his critics, he added later: “The boycott, as anyone who takes the trouble to investigate knows, is aimed at the Israeli state.”[11] Loach said he had a “respectful and reasoned” conversation with event organizers, saying they should not be accepting funds from Israel.[11]
In June 2009, Loach attempted the same tactic with the Melbourne International Film Festival, where the Israeli Embassy in Canberra is a sponsor the visit of Tatia Rosenthal, the director of $9.99, a stop-motion animation based on the short stories of award-winning Israeli author Etgar Keret but the festival declined.[12] The festival’s chief executive, Richard Moore, refused to comply and compared Loach’s tactics to blackmail. Australian lawmaker Michael Danby sharply criticized Loach’s tactics, stating that “Israelis and Australians have always had a lot in common, including contempt for the irritating British penchant for claiming cultural superiority. Melbourne is a very different place to Londonistan.”[13]
Loach has also expressed strong support for Chechen independence from Russia.[14]
It’s great to see such a strong response here on DHD to these anti-Jew fools – Glover, Byrne, Fonda among them. Thanks everyone.
Yeah! You tell ‘em. I always knew the Talking Heads were a neo-Nazi band. “Burning Down The House”… “Life During Wartime”… it was so obvious!
David Byrne–clearly a raging Jew hater!
As someone who once lived in Toronto and has nothing short of great respect for TIFF and the way it has grown to become such a respected International institution, all I can say is shame on you, all of you on the list, for boycotting the event. This festival has always been a classy and well run event. Maybe they should boycott your next premiere. You know, the one that really needs to find a distributor.
Regardless of what you feel about Israel and or Tel Aviv, I would like to know why any of you think it is good and just to boycott fellow artists when you don’t even know if or what the political view might be espoused in their films.
Since when did a community that once lost some of the finest talent of a generation to blacklisting during the McCarthy era feel it was alright to accuse and blacklist other artists when they don’t even know what they actually stand for.
Disgusting.
I’m glad that TIFF is not giving into this garbage and is fighting back. Toronto has a strong jewish community and I hope they come down hard on these racists jerks and call them out for hypocrisy.