Cinema
the debate •
No flags – in Venice, let the films do the talking
The Film Festival opens tonight and editor-in-chief Barbera has given the right response to the pro-Palestinian appeal calling on the festival to take a stand: screening four films on the Palestinian issue is the most appropriate gesture
Greta Scarano and Alberto Barbera at the Lido (Ansa)
Yesterday at the Lido, for her usual swim, Greta Scarano entered the water barefoot, asking the photographers to follow her, and opened a huge fan shaped like a slice of watermelon: green, white, red and black – the colours of the Palestinian flag. Tonight, Scarano will host the opening ceremony of Venice 83. The actress and director is among the first signatories of the appeal by the Venice4Palestine committee, which calls on the Venice Biennale to display the Palestinian flag for the full eleven days of the Film Festival and to suspend agreements with organisations linked to the Israeli government.
After all, the fact that the signatory of the appeal is not being introduced is not inconsistent: artists take a stand, whilst institutions provide a platform. And indeed, the director of the Festival, Alberto Barbera, replied that no, the Biennale can only display the flags of states recognised by Italy, and Palestine is not yet recognised. He himself says he hopes it will become so, but adds that raising its flag would mean conferring a status – in other words, doing something that is certainly not the role of a film festival. The real point, Barbera emphasises, is that this year’s official selection includes four films that tackle the Palestinian issue in an explicit, controversial and hard-hitting manner. And that is the crux of the matter. For the Festival, it is the films that must speak for themselves; they are the best expression of political responsibility. Any block of flats can fly a flag.
Barbera’s response is correct and pertinent – which is the least photogenic of virtues. The proof lies in one of those four films. ‘Naza’ was directed by two Israelis, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who previously co-wrote ‘No Other Land’: three years of interviews with Israeli army and intelligence officers regarding the killing of Palestinian civilians. Last year, “Sawt Hind Rajab” made a greater impact than any appeal, and its director now sits on the jury: it was cinema that brought the issue to the fore, not a signature or a banner.