The Venice Film Festival was the focus of a huge demonstration on Saturday (August 30) against Israel’s war in Gaza. In the biggest demonstration
The Venice Film Festival was the focus of a huge demonstration on Saturday (August 30) against Israel’s war in Gaza.
In the biggest demonstration to date at a film festival, thousands of protestors marched on the Lido towards the festival’s Palazzo del Cinema.
However, amid a bulky police presence with helicopters flying overhead, the protestors were prevented from accessing the festival’s main red carpet area.
The protest took place just before the world premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, starring Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth and Oscar Isaac, but did not disrupt the red carpet.
The protest, which was cacophonous but peaceful, included local Venetians as well as some festival delegates. One participant told Screen that he thought 2,000 people were on the march.
The protest was organised by political and grassroots organisations from Venice and beyond.
In a statement beforehand, the organisers said the Venice Film Festival “must not remain an event isolated from reality, but rather become a space to denounce the genocide being carried out by Israel, the complicity of Western governments, and to offer concrete support to the Palestinian people”.
The gathering began outside the Lido’s main waterbus station, and headed up the island’s main thoroughfare towards the festival.
The march follows a smaller demonstration on the first day of the festival.
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