A queer film festival in Switzerland has dropped an Israeli film from its lineup after receiving boycott threats from a collective of local groups including a Palestinian film festival.
Everybody’s Perfect, which describes itself as a festival of queer cinema based in Geneva, had initially unveiled Moshe Rosenthal’s “Tell Me Everything” as part of its lineup. The film, which was recently selected as Israel’s submission for the Oscar’s international feature category, follows a 12-year-old boy who discovers a “devastating secret” about his father in the 1980s at the height of the HIV crisis. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and last month set a record for most nominations at Israel’s film academy awards.
On Monday Everybody’s Perfect cancelled two planned screenings of the film, blaming threats of a boycott after receiving an email from fellow Geneva-based festival Palestine, Filmer C’est Exister last Thursday, according to a rep for Everybody’s Perfect. “They started writing messages like ‘We’re going to boycott your festival’ — boycott, boycott, just boycott,” said Charlotte Spector, the festival’s communications lead. “When people mention boycotting a festival that is a very big threat.”
“[‘Tell Me Everything’] a beautiful film about the ’80s and AIDS/HIV,” Sector added. “There’s nothing that is remotely close to what is going on currently and what has been going on [in Israel/Gaza].”
Everybody’s Perfect, which opens Friday, Oct. 9 with the Swiss premiere of “Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror,” is part funded by the city of Geneva, as is Palestine, Filmer C’est Exister. The latter did not respond to Variety’s queries by press time. According to a post on Instagram, other groups involved in pressuring the queer festival to drop “Tell Me Everything” were Student Coordination for Palestine at the University of Geneva, BDS Geneva, CRAQ and Marad.
Variety understands that after receiving the boycott threats, Everybody’s Perfect asked Rosenthal to declare his “stance towards the current Israeli government and the war in Palestine” on Friday. Rosenthal and producers Green Productions responded the following day, saying they do not represent the Israeli government and do not finance or produce films supporting or promoting its current policies.
Despite receiving the statement, which according to Sector the festival shared with media organizations, on Monday Everybody’s Perfect decided to de-program the film. In a statement to the Swiss newspaper, the festival’s artistic director, Sylvie Cachin, said: “The cancelation isn’t related to the film itself, but to the desire to avoid controversy just days before the festival’s opening.”
This was echoed by Sector, who said: “Six days [out] from the festival they made the decision they wanted to not get into this kind of heated argument. It was a way of saying we’re all coming together, we need to come together.”
She added: “[We have] heavy hearts still now. I have friends who said ‘I really want to see that film’ and would have paid twice the price to see it. This was a three-day decision with lots and lots of heartache. It was difficult.”
Similarly, the message informing the filmmakers of the festival’s change of heart apologized for bowing to the boycotters. “Please know that we are sincerely sorry for how this has turned out,” it reads. “Once again, personally, I do not condone this backlash and this attack, but we had to make this decision for the well-being of the festival audience and to ensure that the other films in the selection could be properly showcased.”
The cancelation comes following a number of pledges to boycott Israeli film institutions signed by actors including Javier Bardem and Emma Stone. Israel’s filmmaking community, which is traditionally left-wing, has rejected such calls, pointing to films coming out of the country that are openly critical of the Israeli government, such as “Naza,” which debuted at Venice, and last year’s Israeli Oscar entry “The Sea,” about a Palestinian boy who goes to Tel Aviv.
Earlier this summer Israeli director Nadav Lapid was booted as a member of the jury at the FID Marseille international film festival despite living in self-imposed exile in France in protest at the Israeli government. His latest film, “Yes,” was described in a Variety review as a “blistering attack on Israeli nationalism.”
The producers for “Tell Me Everything” told Variety: “A film does not represent a government, and filmmakers should not be held responsible for its policies. Many of us in Israel oppose the war and are deeply critical of our government. ‘Tell Me Everything’ is a human story about love, family, identity and healing. We made it to create connection and conversation, not to represent a government. Would Iranian or American filmmakers be asked to make similar declarations about their governments before their films could be shown?”
“We care deeply about being part of an international film community where difficult questions and different perspectives can exist. Festivals should make room for that connection and conversation- not exclude artists because of where they come from.”
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