Cruel, counterproductive… The boycott of Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid in Marseille does not pass

Nothing will save him in their eyes. Neither his virulent on-screen criticism of Israeli society and institutions (but have they seen his films?), nor his public speaking out against the war in Gaza. Being of Israeli nationality constitutes too big a fault. Nadav Lapid, as a dozen of his “colleagues” have indicated, is not welcome at the FID Marseille festival. The demonstration which promotes independent cinema evoked “calls requesting disinvitation” by the 51-year-old artist, based in France since 2021. Selected filmmakers had also announced that they no longer wanted to present their films there to demonstrate against its presence. The word boycott is more appropriate.

The dozen dissatisfied people justified their approach by a desire “to act against a colonial and genocidal reality”. By targeting protesters like Nadav Lapid? They had anticipated this astonishment, which they circumvented in an exercise of one-upmanship. Israel would authorize “critical filmmakers to circulate in European cultural spaces to maintain the image of a living democracy” without putting back “involves the Zionist project itself”.

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“Intellectual bankruptcy”

Radicalism disqualifies this collective bringing together little-known professionals, including the Franco-Algerian director Narimane Mari. He made enough noise to lead the festival to demote Nadav Lapid. The winner of the 2019 Golden Bear left the jury, confining himself to an exchange around one of his films, The Policemana parable of the militarist excesses of his country. Alas, the pressures continued. The director of the recent Oui ended up withdrawing to put an end to the hallali.

“There was no question of ignoring this situation. »rewinds Morgan Pokée, co-author of the first support column published Monday in The World. The text is moved by“an assignment logic” and a “disqualification mechanism which borders on the most distressing simplism”. From Palestinian essayist Elias Sanbar to directors Justine Triet and Arnaud Desplechin, including the director of the FID, hundreds of professionals and personalities have added their signature. “The emails of support continue to rain in”specifies Morgan Pokée, programmer and author of an essay on Nadav Lapid.

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A second stand followed suit. This time we denounce a “intellectual bankruptcy”. Jacques Audiard, Michel Hazanavicius or the actress Natalie Portman, through their signature, commit not to reduce an artist to “a passport”. In their eyes, the boycott is counterproductive. In addition to revealing « cruel » for those who suffer it, as Nadav Lapid indicated.

Questioned by us, the Marseille town hall, partner of the event, has not yet made any comment. At the end of May, Benoît Payan supported the cartoonist Joann Sfar, caught under the same anti-Israeli fire, so that he could honor his invitation to France’s second city. Could it be otherwise for Nadav Lapid? His reinstatement would end a bad movie.