How IDFA Found Itself Overtaken By Events In Israel And Gaza

International Documentary Festival Amsterdam has long enjoyed a reputation as a politically engaged festival – standing up for artists and speaking out for freedom of expression. For instance, IDFA forcefully advocated for Ukrainian filmmakers at last year’s event, making no secret of its position on Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

But that reputation for taking bold stances on geopolitical issues has put the world’s largest documentary gathering in a very tenuous position in the starkly polarized context of the Israel-Hamas war and the relentless bombing of Gaza. For IDFA to say nothing about the violence is unthinkable. To say anything at all almost guarantees backlash.

IDFA’s attempt to walk a fine line – publicly acknowledging the trauma experienced by Palestinians and Israelis, while trying to avoid injuring feelings with its statements on the issue – has proven virtually impossible to achieve. It has found itself the target of vociferous criticism – first from Israeli and some American filmmakers and now from Palestinian filmmakers and their supporters in the documentary community.

It didn’t take long for controversy to erupt – perhaps unsurprising given that IDFA is the first major world cultural event to take place since the October 7 Hamas sneak attack on Israel – an early morning raid in which militants slaughtered over 1,200 civilians and seized about 240 hostages. Israel responded with ferocious missile fire, a ground invasion and siege that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians according to the Gaza health ministry. 

During the opening night ceremony last Wednesday, three pro-Palestinian demonstrators interrupted IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia as he was making remarks. They carried a banner bearing the controversial slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.” Many Jews consider the slogan antisemitic and an explicit threat to erase Israel from the map, while many Palestinians defend it as a call to end the occupation and an appeal for equal rights for all people of the region – Palestinians, Jews and others.

Complicating matters, Nyrabia (a Syrian-born filmmaker) applauded the protesters on stage. He and the festival were almost immediately attacked by members of Israel’s film community, as well as some documentary filmmakers in the U.S., who accused IDFA of supporting calls for Israel’s destruction. On Friday, the festival and Nyrabia issued a joint apology, in which the artistic director explained that he had not seen the wording on the protesters’ banner.

“I apologize for not paying attention to the banner in the moment,” Nyrabia wrote. “I clapped to welcome freedom of speech, and not to welcome the slogan.” The festival called the slogan “hurtful,” while Nyrabia described the phrase as “triggering… and an offensive declaration for many, regardless of who carries it. It does not represent IDFA, and was and will not be endorsed.”

But that apology quickly met with sharp disapproval from many Palestinian filmmakers. Basma al-Sharif, a Palestinian director and artist, withdrew a film at the festival and quit the Envision competition jury on which she was serving, in protest against the joint apology. Palestinian filmmaker Jumana Manna likewise wrote on Instagram, “I have cancelled my forthcoming screening at IDFA and thereby withdraw my continued participation at the festival.” Sky Hopinka, a Native American filmmaker who was being honored at IDFA, wrote on Instagram, “I withdrew my film from IDFA today in solidarity with my Palestinian friends and colleagues who decided to not show their work.”

Deadline has verified the authenticity of a letter that leaked online, in which some members of IDFA staff wrote anonymously to the festival board expressing their unhappiness over the apology.

“Two days ago [on Friday, Nov. 11],” the letter said, “two statements were made on behalf of IDFA, entitled ‘IDFA and Artistic Director’s statement about the Opening Night’ and ‘IDFA calls for an Immediate Ceasefire.’

“In both letters, the pronoun ‘we’ is invoked to express the position of the organization as a whole. A number of employees of IDFA feel that it is important to question the collective voice in which these statements have been made, and many have been privately sharing their anxieties regarding these communications and the difficult position in which it puts staff, especially those whose work involves engaging with members of public and industry.

“It is unfortunate that over the past four weeks of horrifying violence, there has not been an opportunity for the staff of IDFA to be consulted on their feelings regarding the conflict, with the intention of allowing a contribution at least in part to the organization’s stance.”

The letter to the board continued, “There is broad understanding amongst the team that this is a disorienting moment, and that as an influential cultural institution that serves a wide and diverse international community of filmmakers, audiences and partners, there are many interests to be considered. This is certainly not an easy time to lead such an organization, and we do not envy the position of IDFA management who are being asked to balance these interests while maintaining both the ethical and structural integrity of an institution that is reliant on external support.

“However, while many of us applaud the call for a ceasefire and share the condemnation of violence against all innocent people, it is unfortunate that this important statement was overshadowed by another in which IDFA distanced itself from the protest action on the opening night of the festival opposing the violence against and dehumanization of Palestinians. We share the belief that this violence can no longer be called by any other word than genocide.”

The letter did acknowledge that even among IDFA workers there is not a complete consensus on the proper way for the festival to respond to the crisis in Gaza and Israel. A member of IDFA staff involved in drafting the letter, who requested anonymity to protect their relationship with the festival, told Deadline,“There is a multiplicity of opinion within IDFA.”

IDFA has gone some way to try to lower the temperature and address upset over its apology by issuing a fresh statement on Sunday. It wrote, “With much respect and with openness and readiness to learn and be self-critical, we have received, read, and discussed various statements and messages from various respected groups and individuals, filmmakers, artists, and culture workers, as well as members of our staff, audience and partners, all addressing our recent statement with regards to the events of the opening night of IDFA 2023. We are grateful to everybody who reached out, and who expressed concern for IDFA, its values, and its soul. We want to iterate that IDFA is, and remains to be, an open and inclusive space for freedom of expression, for difficult discussions to take place seriously and respectfully, through and around documentary film and art.

“The last month has seen a huge scale of violence, and a grave humanitarian crisis. Many filmmakers, Palestinians, Israelis, and others, whose work featured at IDFA over the years, showed the world how occupation is the core of this tragedy, and that ending the occupation and respecting all human lives as equal and sacred, are the essential steps. We repeat our call for an immediate ceasefire, and for an opening of borders to allow for desperately needed humanitarian aid to civilian populations. As repeated by IDFA over the past four weeks, we stand behind all the documentary filmmakers of the world, and behind all the films shown, discussed, and awarded at IDFA over the years. These are films that stand against injustice, that defend a better world, a world without occupation, without colonialism, without segregation, without war. These films told us repeatedly that violence breeds violence. That these cycles of destruction cannot be broken without acknowledging that we are all equal, that all lives are sacred, and that the ability to engage in serious dialogue is the only path we know towards sustainable peace, no matter how difficult it gets.

“Lastly, we understand that the slogan that is at the heart of the on-going discussion is used by various parties in different ways and is perceived by various people in various manners. We are not ignoring, undermining nor criminalizing any of these positions and we fully respect and acknowledge the pain that is going around and the extreme urgency of these discussions while war is still on, and innocent civilians are still dying. IDFA is about giving the stage to outstanding artists to be critical and free. IDFA is an open platform and not a censor. Our aim is to make sure everybody feels welcome and safe to express themselves and to listen openly to others, even when in disagreement. Our hope is that everybody feels entitled to use this platform, seriously and responsibly, lovingly and sincerely.”

Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly, who lives in Gaza, chose not to withdraw his film Life Is Beautiful from IDFA. But he did question why the festival waited as long as it did to issue a call for a ceasefire – that came on Friday, over a month after the bombardment of Gaza began. 

“A festival about reality, about human rights, about human lives, didn’t mention any word [about Gaza],” Jabaly told Deadline. “Then you see at the same time, when the war in Ukraine broke out, IDFA changed their identity, changed their logo [to the colors of the Ukrainian flag]. What is the difference between me and any kind of other human being in Ukraine? Why are we not seen and perceived in the same way?” 

Jabaly took part in a demonstration on Monday at the festival’s hub, the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. About 200 people joined him to express solidarity for the Palestinian cause, including Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, who premiered his film The World Is Family at IDFA, as well as director Sky Hopinka.

Yara Yuri Safadi, a filmmaker who has moderated Q&As for IDFA for a number of years, addressed the rally, explaining that she was among the three people who had staged the pro-Palestinian demonstration on the festival’s opening night. She faulted Nyrabia for failing in his opening remarks to mention Gaza, the Israeli occupation, “de-colonialsm… and ceasefire. So many words and he said none of them, none of them. You have no idea how hurtful that was. And we threw out our banners and we chanted, ‘Ceasefire now!’ and we got booed in the room.”

Safadi, who is part of the Workersforpalestine Netherlands collective, condemned any form of antisemitism, calling it “my fight too.” But she said she had waited for weeks with growing frustration to hear IDFA speak out about the extraordinary loss of Palestinian lives resulting from Israel’s siege of Gaza.

“I was waiting every single day on the IDFA website to see what the fuck are they going to say about this?” said Safadi. “When are they going to call for a ceasefire?”

Many who spoke at the demonstration expressed their love of IDFA and its dedication to supporting artists, a history that goes back 36 years. The debate over IDFA’s response to the opening night demonstration, and to the war in Gaza itself, is a tribute to the high esteem for the festival and the hopes and expectations that are invested in it by the world’s top documentary filmmakers. 

The controversy is also a warning to Sundance and other major cultural events in the coming months, including the Academy Awards. How they respond to the devastating events in Gaza and Israel will be scrutinized with the greatest care.