As the 82nd Venice Film Festival prepares to roll out its red carpet on August 27, 2025, the iconic Italian city finds itself at the center of a stormy debate—one that extends far beyond cinema and into the heart of an international humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of Italian and international filmmakers, actors, and cultural workers have joined forces to demand that the festival take a bold, unequivocal stance on the ongoing conflict in Gaza, thrusting the world’s oldest film festival into an urgent conversation about art, activism, and accountability.
This groundswell began in earnest on August 23, when a large group of mostly Italian film industry professionals—including acclaimed auteurs Marco Bellocchio, Matteo Garrone, and Alice Rohrwacher—signed an open letter under the banner Venice4Palestine (V4P). Their message was clear: the Venice Film Festival and its parent body, La Biennale di Venezia, must "be more courageous and clear in condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing across Palestine carried out by the Israeli government and army," as reported by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.
The letter, which quickly amassed over 1,500 signatures, including those of international figures like Abel Ferrara, Ken Loach, French director Audrey Diwan, and Palestinian filmmakers Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser (winners at Cannes 2025 for "Once Upon a Time in Gaza"), opened with a poetic yet somber plea: "Stop the clocks, turn off the stars. The burden is too much to carry on living as before. For almost two years now, images of unmistakable clarity have been reaching us from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank." The signatories insisted that the world can no longer claim ignorance of the suffering in Gaza, where, according to local health authorities cited by Deadline, nearly 62,700 Palestinians have died since Israel launched its military campaign in response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis and resulted in 251 hostages being taken.
V4P’s call to action did not stop at words. On August 25, hundreds of grassroots and political groups from the Veneto region and across Italy announced plans for a major demonstration on August 30. The march, set to take place along Venice’s main Santa Maria Elisabetta avenue, aims to "turn the spotlight of the Festival on Palestine," as organizers described in a collective statement. They accused Israel of "massacring the Palestinian civilian population, targeting hospitals, refugee camps, food and water distribution points, schools, universities, churches and mosques," and alleged that the "denial of humanitarian aid, water and food is a strategy of genocide, carried out with the complicity of the U.S. and European governments, including the Italian one."
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is, by all accounts, staggering. The United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) announced last week that 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip are officially facing "a man-made famine," with at least 132,000 children under five expected to suffer acute malnutrition. As the festival’s opening approaches, grassroots anger is being fueled by the deaths of nearly 250 Palestinian media workers since the start of the Israeli campaign, as well as the recent killing of four more journalists in Gaza, as reported by Deadline.
Against this backdrop, the festival itself has become a battleground for competing visions of artistic responsibility. The V4P letter urged the festival not to become "a sad and empty showcase," but rather to serve as "a place of dialogue, active participation and resistance, as it has been in the past." The group’s follow-up statement, released after the Biennale and festival issued a written response, was sharply critical: "If it took only a few hours to bring together so many, it means that Italian cinema has finally chosen to stand with the Palestinian people—attacked and massacred for decades—and no longer recognizes a place for half-words and false neutrality." V4P lamented that the Biennale’s official communication "still chooses not to mention Palestine and the ongoing genocide, nor the State of Israel that is perpetrating it."
The Biennale, for its part, struck a diplomatic tone. In its response, it emphasized that the festival and its parent organization "have always been, throughout their history, places of open discussion and sensitivity with regard to all the most pressing issues facing society and the world." The festival also pointed to its selection of films reflecting the crisis, notably Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s "The Voice of Hind Rajab," which tells the story of a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed as her family fled Gaza City in January 2024. The film, which uses real audio tapes of phone calls between the girl and her mother, is in the main competition. Israeli director Dani Rosenberg’s "Of Dogs and Men," depicting the aftermath of the October 7 attack, is featured in the Orizzonti sidebar, further illustrating the festival’s commitment to presenting diverse perspectives.
Yet the festival’s programming choices have not placated all critics. V4P and allied groups have called for the withdrawal of invitations to stars Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot, who appear in Julian Schnabel’s "In The Hand of Dante," set to premiere on September 3. The collective accused certain actors of supporting the Israeli government, and a second letter sent on August 24 specifically demanded that Gadot’s invitation be rescinded. According to La Repubblica, Gadot will not attend the festival, a decision confirmed by her representative, who stated the actress "was never able nor was ever confirmed to attend the Venice Film Festival." Butler, meanwhile, has not commented publicly on the events in Israel and Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The debate over the festival’s role in the crisis has also been amplified by recent international legal developments. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its actions in the territory, further intensifying scrutiny of both the Israeli government and those perceived as its supporters.
For some, the inclusion of films like "The Voice of Hind Rajab" and "Of Dogs and Men" is evidence that the festival is engaging with the crisis in a meaningful way. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, visibly moved during the lineup announcement in July, highlighted the importance of presenting works that bear witness to human suffering and resilience. For others, however, symbolic gestures are not enough. As V4P insisted, "If the Biennale truly wishes to be a ‘place of open and sensitive dialogue, then that space must first and foremost be a space of truth.’"
With the Venice Film Festival poised to begin amid protests, political drama, and a global call for solidarity, the spotlight is now firmly on how the worlds of art and activism can—and should—intersect. Whether the festival’s approach will satisfy its critics or inflame further debate remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: this year, the Lido’s red carpet will be as much a stage for conscience as for cinema.
