Japanese-American film director Niu Sora monitored the cameras’ “complicity” in the Israeli war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, either through cinema that did not sufficiently shed light on that genocide, or through media involvement in legitimizing it if that agreed with their interests.
This is what this director expressed during an interview with Anadolu, in which he talked about the experience of his participation in the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, which was held early last September.
During the festival, Soura appeared wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh and carrying the Palestinian flag with the phrase “Free Palestine,” receiving warm applause from the audience.
In this regard, Soura stressed that the festival was an important opportunity for him to support the Palestinian cause.
He pointed out that the hate speech and Zionist rhetoric against his going on stage wearing the keffiyeh and the Palestinian flag was “less” than he expected.
Criticism of ‘false equivalence’
Sora expressed his dissatisfaction with the agenda of the Venice Film Festival, as he lost “I was disappointed that the festival organizers tried to show some kind of false equivalence by showing an Israeli film and a Palestinian film in the same section.”
The Japanese-American director stressed that this behavior is unfair because “Israel is practicing occupation and carrying out ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.”
He added that he was among the signatories of an open letter opposing the inclusion of the Israeli film in the festival, noting that the film is linked to production companies “complicit” in the genocide in Gaza.
At the festival, two films were screened in the “Horizons” section, one of which was the Palestinian “Happy Holidays,” directed by Iskandar Copti, and deals with the daily suffering of Palestinian families inside Israel. It won the best screenplay award at the festival.
The second is the Israeli film “Of Dogs and Men” by director Danny Rosenberg, which tells the story of a girl searching for her missing dog in the Nir Oz settlement after the events of October 7, 2023.
Cinema’s silence about genocide
Soura considered that artists have more responsibility to expose Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories, so that they work to raise the level of awareness among people about what is happening there.
He explained that this could include signing letters of solidarity, participating in awareness campaigns, and others Some media outlets were accused of “legitimizing” the genocide committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinians.
“We know how complicit they (the media) are in legitimizing genocide if it suits their interests, while at the same time distorting reality in favor of political interests,” he said.
He also considered that “the international film industry did not sufficiently shed light on the genocide in Gaza.”
Genocide after October 7
The Japanese-American director spoke about the profound psychological impact that the Israeli genocide in Gaza had on him since its beginning. He said, “I found it difficult to understand whether I could continue working in filmmaking. What is the point of telling stories about human dignity while we watch brutal violence that deprives people of their humanity?”
He added, “What is happening can only be understood in its historical context. This is genocide, and it began long before October 7.” Considering that Israel has been practicing ethnic cleansing in Palestine for 76 years, and that this cleansing is the only way to continue its colonial project.
Soura pointed out that the victims of the genocide in Gaza were forced to broadcast their suffering directly through the media, in an attempt to mobilize sympathy and convey the truth.
He concluded his speech by saying, “The continuation of the genocide for more than a year, and the extension of Israel’s atrocities to other countries such as Lebanon, indicates that we (as artists) are not doing enough.”
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli war on Gaza has left more than 142,000 dead and wounded, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly.
