Roni Mahadaf-Levin, director of Israel’s Jerusalem Film Festival, has written an open letter urging Palestinian filmmakers to participate in next year’s festival.
“My appeal to artists around the world, and especially to Palestinian filmmakers, is this: seize the opportunity to reach the masses in our cinemas,” Mahdaf-Levin wrote in an open letter, the full text of which can be found below.
Speaking about this year’s festival, which concluded on Sunday, he said: “When the theater lights went down, the audience was not monolithic. The cinema was filled with a diverse crowd, including Jews and Arabs, secular and religious nationals, locals and foreigners. For several hours, they watched the on-screen community… The conversations that ensued in the lobby, where we faced uncomfortable truths about our society and shared moments of deep empathy, became the basis of a resilient society. This is where hard-line narratives are challenged and the status quo is disrupted.”
The 43rd Jerusalem Film Festival opened on July 9th and will run until July 19th. Many Palestinian and Arab-Israeli filmmakers attended this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival amid continuing calls for a boycott of all film institutions associated with Israel.
Palestinian actor Ehab Elias Salami, who stars in the feature film “Where To?” directed by Assaf Makhnes, won the festival’s best performance award. The festival also screened “All That Remains,” a collection of short films by six Palestinian filmmakers, curated by Fadi Far.
Mahadav Levin hopes to have even more participants next year.
“Boycotts and cultural withdrawal do not punish hardliners; they empower them,” he wrote in the letter. “In a bitter irony, the hardliners who want to censor the arts and the boycotters who want to prevent audiences from seeing them end up sharing a common interest. Ultimately, both seek to silence speech, isolate the public, and keep people divided. When you block your film from certain audiences, you’re doing the work of the censors on their behalf. Let your art confront, challenge, and inspire those who need your point of view right now.”
The full letter from Roni Mahadaf-Levin, Executive Director of Jerusalem Cinematheque and Jerusalem Film Festival, is below.
“On July 9, the 43rd Jerusalem Film Festival opened with the premiere of Moshe Rosenthal’s ‘Tell Me Everything.’ Over the next 10 days, we were honored to welcome a dynamic delegation of international directors, actors, and industry experts to screen some of the most important films of the year.”
But under Israel’s current hard-line regime, and after years of devastating conflict that left deep scars in the region, organizing a film festival in a complex and mixed city like Jerusalem was not a task we took lightly.
Needless to say, the presence of the global film industry and the more than 30 international industry guests, including actors, directors, producers, and screenwriters, who chose to attend this year did not support the Israeli government’s hardline policies. Rather, it affirmed the power of culture, dialogue and artistic exchange to resist the forces of extremism, challenge divisions and keep democratic discourse alive.
The threats to democracy we face today are not limited to the Middle East. We witnessed the political turmoil and deep polarization unfolding in the United States, saw how creeping authoritarianism was toppled in Hungary, and followed the courageous uprisings currently underway in Iran and around the world. Around the world, populist leaders and fundamentalist factions seek to consolidate their power by dividing populations and silencing dissent.
Recent history, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall, has taught us powerful lessons. Dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, and populist governments are rarely dismantled by the forces of foreign war or diplomatic isolation. They will be overthrown from within. Real change is driven by the people themselves, whether through the ballot box, no matter how gentle the elections, or through widespread demonstrations and civil resistance.
To empower these internal movements, we need to keep the channels of cultural conversation wide open. The presence of dozens of international artists and filmmakers in Jerusalem this year is a reminder that true exchange occurs between individuals, regardless of nationality, alliance, or sociological identity. Throughout the festival, Israeli, Palestinian, and international stories were presented in parallel, inviting audiences to engage with experiences, perspectives, and realities that they might otherwise have been kept away from. The films, festival guests, and the festival itself do not represent any nation or government. They reflect the common human situation.
When the theater lights went down, the audience was not monolithic. The cinema was filled with a diverse audience: Jews, Arabs, secular and religious citizens, locals and foreigners. For several hours, they were united by a common story on screen. The discussions that ensued in the lobby, where we faced inconvenient truths about our society and shared moments of deep empathy, became the building blocks of a resilient society. This is where the hard-line rhetoric is challenged. This is where the status quo breaks down.
If we truly believe in the universal values of humanity, civil rights, and freedom, we should actively encourage the direct screening of global films to citizens everywhere. It is a powerful conduit for generating empathy and resistance. Therefore, it would be foolhardy to turn a blind eye when presented with the opportunity to bridge these gaps.
This is my appeal to artists around the world, especially Palestinian filmmakers. Seize the opportunity to be seen by the public at the cinema. Israelis will go to the polls in just three months, and this remains a critical and vulnerable time. It is counterproductive and ultimately irresponsible to retreat into ideological purism by withdrawing from the cultural arenas where our voices are most needed.
Boycotts and cultural withdrawal do not punish hardliners. They give them power. In a bitter irony, hardliners who want to censor art and boycotters who want to prevent audiences from seeing it end up sharing a common interest. Ultimately, both seek to silence discourse, isolate the public, and keep people divided. When you block a movie from certain audiences, you’re doing the censor’s job on their behalf. With your art, engage, challenge, and inspire audiences who need to connect with your perspective right now.
I sincerely hope that Israel, Palestine, and our entire region will soon see better days. But getting there will take courage, reflection, and art, not silence. Now is the time to lean in. Be part of this change. Please be brave. Please listen. ”
