“A distressing simplism”: Niels Schneider, Elias Sanbar and two Palmes d’Or oppose the boycott of Nadav Lapid

Nadav Lapid se voit “reduced to one’s nationality”lament the signatories of the platform. The winner of the 2019 Golden Bear will not come, in July, to give his point of view on the selection of FID Marseille, as a juror. Nor present a film. He was the subject of pressure, which pushed him to withdraw. In The Worldthe filmmaker receives the support of personalities who refuse “this desire to exclude a filmmaker from a space of discussion and creation”.

In the same newspaper, the director of the event, Tsveta Dobreva, spoke of “pressures” et “calls requesting disinvitation” by Nadav Lapid. In other words, his boycott. “ Selected filmmakers began to withdraw their films, in the end around ten of them”she clarified. One of the protesters, Narimane Mari, a Franco-Algerian director, swore not to “to condemn a human being” but refuse “a cultural model”.

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Severe criticism of his country’s excesses

The forum disagrees and regrets “an assignment logic”. “How would the presence of a filmmaker on a jury or the presentation of one of his films make him the representative of a State? »the signatories are surprised. Even more so, when this filmmaker judges this State so harshly. Residing in France since 2021, Nadav Lapid is a severe critic of Benyamin Netanyahu’s policies.

At the beginning of the 2010s, he questioned the militarist and nationalist excesses of his country through parables (The Policeman, The Teacher). He is now plowing a more provocative furrow, but still virulent against his country. In Ouireleased in 2025, it depicts the post-October 7 era in a grating and exuberant manner. The fifty-year-old is also opposed to the violence of the war in Gaza, but this skepticism was not enough to appease the vindicators.

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“This is not a critical disagreement or an artistic debate. It is a desire to exclude a filmmaker from a space of discussion and creation”regret the authors of the forum, including the director Arthur Harari, the producer of Oui Judith Lou Lévy, the editor-in-chief of Cinema NotebooksMarcos Uzal, and Morgan Pokée, author of the essay Nadav Lapid – Description of a fight.

The column was signed by two Palmes d’Or winners, Justine Triet and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Many directors appear alongside them: Arnaud Desplechin, Stéphane Demoustier (The Unknown of the Grande Arche), Thierry de Peretti (In his image ), Mia Hansen-Løve, Radu Jude, Alice Diop (Saint Omer), Claire Denis or Emmanuel Marre, whose film Our Salvation was recently awarded at Cannes. Several producers complete the list, including Saïd Ben Saïd, as well as Elias Sanbar, writer and former Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO. Actors are becoming rarer. We note the presence of Niels Schneider, Louis Garrel and Clotilde Courau.

The “role” of the festival in question

“We see a language based on threat being imposed, to which institutions often respond with fear, seeking above all to avoid conflicts. (…) We must be able to discuss Palestine and Israel (…) and the role of artists without these discussions systematically leading to mechanisms of disqualification which border on the most distressing simplism”we read. In The WorldNadav Lapid pinpointed the festival’s reaction: “Perhaps they should have assumed their role a little at a time like this”.

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Partner of the event, the municipality has not yet responded to our questions. At the end of May, socialist mayor Benoît Payan was moved by a call for a boycott targeting comic strip author Joann Sfar, affirming that the city “will not sort artists based on their origin”. What will happen to the FID?