A major UK cinema chain has been accused of backing out of hosting an Israeli film event with organizers citing “safety concerns.”
The Seret International Film Festival, a global Israeli film celebration, has criticized its longtime UK partners Picturehouse and Curzon Cinemas for its claimed actions.
The non-political and non-religious festival was launched in 2012 by Odelia Haroush She accused Picturehouse and Curzon in a London Times interview of yielding to “cancel culture.”
“Their role should be to show films and culture and not cancel culture,” Haroush told the paper. “Especially now; don’t cancel Palestinian culture, Russian culture, Ukrainian culture, or Israeli culture.”
The Times report alleges Picturehouse and Curzon pulled out of hosting due to “safety fears.”
Haroush also told the paper the festival had to drop screenings in Cambridge due to the “political atmosphere with the university and students there.”
“It is not that I am going to show [films] that show everything is blooming and great in Israel. We pick films on their artistic values and not political values. But I believe from the bottom of my heart in free speech,” Haroush told the paper, adding filmmakers were “not the ones to blame for what is going on in Israel.”
Haroush said Picturehouse informed her in November they wouldn’t be able to host any screenings because cinema management was “afraid” for staff and visitors. Curzon dropped out in February, Haroush told the paper, after an Israeli strike on a food truck in Gaza.
Deadline reports it reached out to both chains for comment. Neither were available to discuss the matter.
This is not the first time the festival and its attendees have been challenged.
As the Jerusalem Post reported, in 2019 group of anti-Israel activists violently assaulted visitors at the event in Berlin, causing injuries and disrupting a podium discussion.
An estimated 10-12 protesters participated in the disruption and attacks.