Filmmaker pulls doc from Toronto film-fest that seeks to burnish Israel’s brand

by on September 2, 2009 4

John Greyson, a Canadian filmmaker, has withdrawn his documentary, Covered, (PDF, HTML here) from the Toronto International Film Festival because the festival is spotlighting Tel Aviv this year, working closely with the Israeli Foreign Ministry on its Brand Israel campaign, and there are no Palestinian films in the festival. Greyson’s movie, which you can see at vimeo above, is about anti-gay brutality forcing the cancelling of the Sarajevo Queer Festival last year, and he wants no part of a festival that is going to burnish Israel’s image, using Tel Aviv’s cultural scene to cover apartheid. Isn’t that like celebrating Montgomery’s buses in 1963, California grapes in 69, Chilean wine in 1971, Nestle’s infant formula in 84, or South African fruit in ’91? 

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in BDS, Beyondoweiss, Israel/Palestine

{ 4 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Oscar says:
    September 2, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    This is not an easy decision for an artist. All Mondoweiss regulars, excluding Witty, should send John a personal email to applaud him for this courageous stance. His email address is: johngreyzone@gmail.com

    Here’s what I wrote him:

    h”John, I greatly admire your courage and conviction in pulling out of the Toronto Film Festival. As an artist, I know it must have been difficult, but your reasoning is spot-on. What is happening in Palestine is nothing less than the greatest crime against humanity of our time. If you participated in the TFF knowing it was a whitewashing of IDF’s war crimes in Gaza, it would be a form of complicity. I applaud you for your courageous stance. — Oscar.”

  2. alec says:
    September 2, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    Great suggestion Oscar. Letter sent.

    It’s hard to believe that TIFF would put such a ham-handed display of bigotry in the year of Operation Cast Lead.

    A partial boycott of TIFF would be in order. TIFF is heavily dependent on ticket sales to support their own expansion plans so this would strike a real blow.

    The Israeli consul general in Toronto said that Toronto was chosen as a
    test-city for Brand Israel by Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Let it be a test then. Canadians do not admire warmongers, violence, bigotry or apartheid.

    PS. TIFF used to be quite an independent Canadian film festival (fifteen years ago) with heavy focus on European films. Gradually it’s transmorphed into Hollywood North. This Israel propaganda exercise was probably abetted by Noah Cowan who has been deeply involved with Israeli film festivals as a juror, although Cowan recently moved from TIFF director to Bell Lightbox director.

  3. Pingback: Naomi Klein, David Byrne, Jane Fonda, Danny Glover, Ken Loach, Wallace Shawn and many others support protest of Toronto Film Festival

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