More than 200 figures from the film and cultural industries have signed an open letter from the Venice4Palestine collective calling on the Venice Biennale and Venice International Film Festival to take "concrete action in support of Palestine". The letter, issued before the festival opened on Wednesday, marks the second consecutive year the group has made such an appeal.
Signatories include Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux, musician Roger Waters, actors Guy Pearce and Indya Moore, and filmmaker Celine Sciamma. The Venice4Palestine letter also calls for the Palestinian flag to be flown throughout the festival alongside national flags of other films in the official selection and for the film industry to suspend agreements with bodies and institutions linked to the Israeli government.
Two Palestinian films are screening at the festival this year. Ahmed Hassouna's "Citizen Osama" follows a photographer balancing his work documenting life during the war in Gaza with his responsibilities as a father. Muayad Alayan's "Conversation with the Sea" is set in Jerusalem and follows a 60-year-old Palestinian man navigating Israeli bureaucracy.
Kaouther Ben Hania, a Tunisian filmmaker serving on this year's competition jury for her film "The Voice of Hind Rajab", carried a pale green rounded bag decorated with metallic olive branches to the red carpet. The olive tree holds significance in Palestinian culture, symbolising connection to the land and resilience.
George Clooney, who received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the festival, expressed support for actor Mark Ruffalo's right to free speech. Ruffalo has criticised a proposed $111 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, citing Oracle's business ties with Israel; Paramount later accused him of invoking anti-Semitic tropes, which Ruffalo rejected.
The festival organisers have not publicly responded to the Venice4Palestine appeal. Italian actress Greta Scarano, a signatory of the letter, appeared at a photocall carrying a fan inspired by a watermelon, a symbol associated with Palestinian identity whose colours mirror those of the Palestinian flag.
