imbecile(HollywoodReporter.com)– First a single filmmaker withdrew his short film from the Toronto International Film Festival to protest its spotlight on Tel Aviv. Now the artists and academics are piling on.
Toronto is set to open next week with a widening artist protest and possible boycott over its spotlight on Israel and its filmmakers. Ken Loach, Jane Fonda, Wallace Shawn, Danny Glover and David Byrne are among 50 directors, writers and activists to have signed an open letter set to go online Thursday that alleges Toronto, "whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine," the Globe and Mail newspaper reported Thursday.
"We object to the use of such an important international festival in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of an apartheid regime," the letter continued.
Toronto has drawn heat for choosing Tel Aviv as the subject of its inaugural "City to City" program, which celebrates films from a selected city.
Festival co-director Cameron Bailey last week expressed disappointment about the festival boycott over the Tel Aviv spotlight. "There was no pressure from any outside source. Contrary to rumors or mistaken media reports, this focus is a product only of TIFF's programming decisions."
