Hundreds of Italian filmmakers, including Marco Bellocchio, Alba Rohrwacher, and Matteo Garrone, signed an open letter urging the Venice Film Festival to acknowledge the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The signatories, under the banner “Venice4Palestine,” which launches on August 27, called on the festival, its parent body the Biennale, and parallel independent events such as Venice Days and the International Critics’ Week to be bolder and clearer in condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing across Palestine by the Israeli government and military. The letter emphasized the heavy burden of witnessing the atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, stating that no one can claim ignorance anymore.

Among the signatories are notable international filmmakers such as French director Audrey Diwan, British actor Charles Dance, and Palestinian directors Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser, winners of the Best Director award at Cannes this year for their film “Once Upon a Time in Gaza.” The Venice4Palestine message highlighted that Israel’s persecution of Palestinians predates October 7 by decades and called on cinema professionals to take a stand to expose ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal occupation, colonialism, and other crimes against humanity committed by Israel over decades. The letter warned against continuing major events that ignore this humanitarian and political tragedy under the pretext that “the show must go on,” stressing that art should be a powerful tool for change, testimony, representing humanity, and fostering critical awareness, making it an exceptional means for reflection, active participation, and resistance.