Gaza has pitted Hollywood against itself. And as the season of serious filmmaking arrives with Venice and the Toronto International Film Festivals, the divisions it has wrought are back in the spotlight.
The brutal violence that began almost two years ago on Oct. 7, 2023, has divided the entertainment community like few issues in recent decades, with torturous results. Unlike South African apartheid or even the war in Ukraine, issues the largely progressive industry could unite over, the conflict between Palestine and Israel remains a third rail, with convictions running deep and angry across the board. The documentary “No Other Land,” which depicted oppression in the West Bank, won film festival acclaim last year, and ultimately an Oscar, but stirred such controversy that distributors didn’t want to touch it.
Both supporters of Palestine and those who defend Israel feel persecuted for their views — or are worried they will be. Almost from the start, there has been talk of reprisals against those who make their views known.
The Venice Film Festival kicked off last month with a huge street protest, along with calls by a group of international filmmakers and artists to take a “clear and unambiguous stand” against the “ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing across Palestine carried out by the Israeli government and army.” The group also wanted the festival to rescind invitations to actors featured in films premiering there, including the “In the Hand of Dante” stars Gal Gadot, who is Israeli, and Gerard Butler, who made statements in support of Israel.
The festival organizers, as well as the “Dante” filmmaker Julian Schnabel, responded by trying to return the focus to the films in the festival. Neither Ms. Gadot nor Mr. Butler was disinvited, but neither showed up, either.
Meanwhile, “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” a documentary by the Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich, tells the story of a retired Israeli general, Noam Tibon, racing from Tel Aviv to the Nahal Oz kibbutz to try to save his children and grandchildren during the initial Hamas attack. It is scheduled to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday.
It almost wasn’t. TIFF scheduled the film, then, claiming that because Hamas footage of the attack had not been cleared, pulled it. After more than 1,000 entertainment industry figures including Amy Schumer and Debra Messing signed a petition claiming the festival was silencing Jewish voices, TIFF returned the film to the schedule.
Venice and TIFF, which opened last Thursday, mark the unofficial kickoff of the annual awards season. The stars, the studios and many of those who matter in Hollywood show up, along with much of the world’s media. The very public disruptions surrounding the two festivals encapsulate the film world’s quandary: In an industry that supposedly champions free expression — indeed which requires it in order to thrive — Gaza has become an issue that can barely even be raised.
On one side is a deeply wary and often well-established Jewish community that suspects, not without evidence, that stories that present Israel’s point of view sympathetically are unwelcome, and that the rising threat of antisemitism is being ignored by progressive colleagues.
On the other is a cohort of politically aware artists and executives, including a younger generation of Jews, who are horrified at the carnage in Gaza yet fear that publicly supporting Palestinians could hurt their careers. Susan Sarandon spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally and was dropped by her talent agency. Melissa Barrera was booted from her role in the “Scream” franchise after she posted criticism of Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 attacks and appeared to endorse a conspiracy theory that Jews control the media.
The “Snow White” star Rachel Zegler posted, “and always remember, free Palestine” during the film’s early promotion in August 2024. She continued to defend her views on Palestine on red carpets with the movie’s release earlier this year. Certainly Disney executives believe that this didn’t help “Snow White,” which did an anemic $206 million globally. Ms. Zegler was recently onstage in London starring in “Evita,” but if you ask Hollywood decision makers she is unhirable for the movies because the Gaza war is not an issue anyone in the business wants discussed by one of their stars.
Defending Israel isn’t without consequence, either. A vocal supporter of Israel, Mayim Bialik, lost her gig as a “Jeopardy” host in December 2023, and some whispered that it was because of her activism. Ms. Gadot, who starred with Ms. Zegler in “Snow White,” gave a revealing interview this summer on Israeli TV in which she said out loud (but in Hebrew) what she has avoided previously: “What’s happening in all kinds of industries and also in Hollywood, is that there’s a lot of pressure on celebrities to bring up things against Israel.” Like Ms. Zegler’s, Ms. Gadot’s career seems to have slowed.
I know of studio moguls, producers, actors and agents who believe they have been betrayed by the progressive movement they supported for decades because of its accusations of genocide and failure to denounce antisemitism. “Anybody that speaks up on behalf of Israel is hounded into silence,” said Ari Ingel, a music manager who leads the group Creative Community for Peace, which sponsored the petition to get “The Road Between Us” back on the schedule at TIFF. He said that “after Oct. 7 we had a letter and everyone from Antoine Fuqua and Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Pine signed on.” Now, he says, it’s far more challenging to get people to sign on to similar letters. “There’s a silencing effect.”
Nobody wants to court controversy now. But Hollywood has always processed the political through telling human stories. Mr. Ingel pointed out to me that the TIFF festival includes four films that told Palestinian stories, which is why he is glad that his group won the battle to put “The Road Between Us” on, too. One of those four films, director Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza drama “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” won the second-place grand jury prize at Venice.
Both do what films do: bring the audience into the experiences and humanity of others not themselves. Hollywood should never be afraid to do that.
Sharon Waxman is the founder, chief executive and editor in chief of The Wrap.
Source photograph by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images.
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