A film by Israeli filmmaker Roy Zafrani was rejected from an Oslo film festival because it dealt with Israeli subject matter but did not address the Palestinians.
“Other Dreamers,” about disabled children in Tel Aviv, was rejected last week from the Human Rights Human Wrongs festival, which screens political documentaries. The film was rejected because it concerned Israel but did not deal directly with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank or discrimination against Palestinians, the New York Times reported.
Zafrani said he sees the decision as tied to the broader movement to boycott Israel, and opposes cultural aspects of that boycott.
“I think the larger issue is that there is a boycott — which I can understand and not understand,” he told the Times. “I’m not political. But I think we should suspend it for some things.”
The decision to boycott Zafrani drew criticism even from Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the BDS movement, which encourages boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israel. Barghouti said the boycott should target Israeli institutions, not individuals. — jta