{"id":725934,"date":"2026-06-09T20:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/725934\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T20:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:44:09","slug":"natalie-portman-justine-triet-defend-israeli-director-nadav-lapid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/725934\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalie Portman, Justine Triet Defend Israeli Director Nadav Lapid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNatalie Portman<\/a>, Justine Triet (\u201cAnatomy of a Fall\u201d), Jacques Audiard (\u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d), Alice Diop (\u201cSaint Omer\u201d), Arthur Harari (\u201cThe Unknown\u201d) and Michel Hazanavicius (\u201cThe Artist\u201d) are among more than 350 film industry figures who have signed an open letter <\/a>condemning the cultural boycott <\/a>of Israeli director Nadav Lapid<\/a>. The latter is a fierce critic of Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government who has lived in self-imposed exile in France since 2021. His latest film, \u201cYes!\u201d was called a \u201cblistering attack on Israeli nationalism\u201d by Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe letter, titled \u201cCinema Is Not an Embassy\u201d and published on Monday in Le Monde newspaper<\/a>, denounces what it calls a \u201ccampaign of intimidation\u201d<\/a> targeting the politically engaged filmmaker, and \u201ca deliberate effort to exclude a filmmaker from a space of discussion and creation.\u201d Other signatories include Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis, Mia Hansen-L\u00f8ve, Bertrand Bonello, Mati Diop, St\u00e9phane Demoustier, and Romanian director Radu Jude, as well as producers Sa\u00efd Ben Sa\u00efd and Judith Lou L\u00e9vy who worked with Lapid on \u201cSynonym\u201d and \u201cYes!,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe controversy stems from Lapid\u2019s planned participation as a jury member at the FID Marseille international film festival, running July 7\u201312. Festival director Tsveta Dobreva said Lapid was initially invited \u201csolely out of respect for his cinema,\u201d but she soon began receiving calls demanding the withdrawal of his invitation. When pressure intensified, the festival proposed a scaled-back arrangement \u2014 Lapid would simply present his 2011 debut feature \u201cPoliceman\u201d at a public screening and book signing. But then around 10 filmmakers ultimately withdrew their films from the selection, forcing Lapid to pull out entirely. Those who objected Lapid\u2019s participation to the festival pointed out that he accepted partial funding for his 2025 film \u201cYes\u201d from the Israel Film Fund, which they view as an arm of the Israeli state. In reality, the Israel Film Fund stands as the country\u2019s primary source of financing for Israeli and Palestinian films, and it operates independently from the government. It has a long legacy of supporting films from liberal voices,<\/a> such as Ari Folman\u2019s \u201cWaltz With Bashir,\u201d Samuel Maoz\u2019s \u201cLebanon\u201d and most recently \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFranco-Algerian director Narimane Mari, one of the filmmakers who withdrew her film, rejected the accusation of censorship: \u201cWe are not condemning a human being \u2014 we are refusing a cultural and political model that continues to be maintained,\u201d she was quoted saying in Le Monde. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe open letter signed by Portman, Triet and others directly challenges the logic behind the cultural boycott. \u201cIn what way does the presence of a filmmaker on a jury or the screening of one of his films make him a representative of a state? Inviting an artist to a festival is not about elevating him to the status of a cultural ambassador, but about recognizing a body of work, a career, and a cinematic vision.\u201d The letter asks pointedly, \u201cHow could Nadav Lapid \u2014 whose work has been built over many years on a direct critique of the policies pursued by his country\u2019s various governments, at the cost of taking real risks, and who has publicly denounced, on numerous occasions, the destruction of Gaza \u2014 be equated with any form of Israeli cultural embassy?\u201d It calls this conflation \u201ca logic of assignment\u201d that reduces an artist to their nationality.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe letter also highlights the broader culture of intimidation spreading through film institutions. \u201cInstead of opening a discussion on possible forms of resistance, we are witnessing the proliferation of tactics of intimidation that shut down precisely this space for vision, thought, and struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCinema can remain a space for critical discourse only if it resists this logic. Not by distancing itself from the world\u2019s conflicts, but by refusing to reproduce their most brutal simplifications. Nadav Lapid\u2019s films can be discussed, challenged, or rejected. But first, they must be seen,\u201d says the open letter. <\/p>\n

In an interview published on June 6 in Le Monde<\/a>, Lapid said he agreed to withdraw to avoid putting the festival in difficulty, but expressed frustration at the escalating pressure. \u201cFor a year, it was my film \u2018Yes\u2019 that was being attacked. And then, suddenly, my mere presence became unacceptable. I asked myself: what exactly do they want? That I stop making films? That I leave France? How far will this go?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also warned of a broader chilling effect on cultural institutions: \u201cMany festivals are now beginning to avoid certain films or people simply out of fear of controversy. And paradoxically, those who claim to want to draw attention to Palestine sometimes produce the opposite effect \u2014 films disappear, debates no longer take place, and everyone retreats into silence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLapid, who previously won the Golden Bear in Berlin with \u201cSynonym\u201d and a prize at Cannes with \u201cAhed\u2019s Knee,\u201d nonetheless said he refuses to regard the boycotting filmmakers as enemies, suggesting their actions reflect \u201cpowerlessness, anger and immense frustration at the political inaction around Gaza,\u201d and reiterating his own long-standing support for real political sanctions against Israel. \u201cThe real issue is genuine political sanctions against the Israeli state \u2014 which I have supported for years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Natalie Portman, Justine Triet (\u201cAnatomy of a Fall\u201d), Jacques Audiard (\u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d), Alice Diop (\u201cSaint Omer\u201d), Arthur Harari…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,190337,15061],"class_list":["post-725934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-nadav-lapid","tag-natalie-portman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}