NFDC cancels Israeli film festival after campaign by artists, activists
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Mumbai: The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) has cancelled its decision to hold Israel film festival in Mumbai following widespread campaign against it, The Wire reported.
A collective statement issued by over a thousand artists , activists and others prompted the authorities to call off the event that was scheduled for August 21 and 22 at the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) in Mumbai.
The India Palestine Solidarity Forum, an informal group working to create awareness about the war in Gaza, organised the signature campaign.
The group in a statement said that the screening by NFDC is to take place just as the world is witnessing Israeli war crimes, adding that ‘ the ongoing Holocaust, and the genocide in Gaza, as well as across all of Palestine. The genocide is happening in real time, and the entire world is witnessing this inhuman criminal monstrosity, as we watch in horror on our mobile devices and TV screens’.
Important personalities including actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak, senior human rights lawyer Mihir Desai, academic Irfan Engineer, as well as documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan signed the statement.
The statement cited the medical research journal The Lancet to expand on the ground realities of the war in Gaza which according the journal killed large number of children and women.
The statement further said citing the journal: “The Israeli regime has murdered 186,000 Palestinians, of whom 70% are children and women. The number may have now surpassed 200,000. This means that the Israeli regime has killed over 8% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, which clearly constitutes a Holocaust, no less. (Lancet, July 5, 2024, ‘Counting the Dead in Gaza – Difficult but Essential.’)”
The group pointed out, urging the NFDC and NMIC management to recognize, that the government of India voted for a ceasefire alongside , like vast majority of nations, recognized the Palestinian state.
“At this moment in our collective human history, for the NFDC and NMIC to screen Israeli films is utterly immoral, unethical, unconscionable, and a travesty of justice,” the outlet reported quoting the group.
The group asked NFDC and NMIC to “refrain from any screening of Israeli films until Israel complies with International law, as do other civilised nations”.
The NFDC and NMIC had not issued any official statement regarding the cancellation of the event
However, the organisers of the campaign reportedly confirmed that the festival had been cancelled.
Firoze Mithibirewala, who organizes the India Palestine Solidarity Forum, reportedly said that the NFDC cancelled the festival after a ‘concerted public campaign’.
