Palestinian festival drops film over French-Lebanese director's trips to Israel

The film of a French-Lebanese director has been banned from a Palestinian festival because his previous film was shot in Israel and featured several Israeli actors.

Ziad Doueiri's film 'The Insult' was supposed to close the Palestinian Days of Cinema festival on Monday (23 October) but was dropped following pressure from activists over the director's ties with Israel.

His previous film 'The Attack', which tells the story of a Palestinian surgeon living in Tel Aviv who discovers that his wife carried out a fatal suicide attack, was partially filmed in Israel.

Last month, Doueiri was briefly detained in Lebanon and ordered to appear before a military court because of his visits to Israel. Lebanon has banned its citizens from visiting Israel, a country it has been at war with for decades.

Following a campaign from activists to cancel the screening of 'The Insult', which won one of the major prizes at this year's Venice Film Festival, the organisers of the Palestinian festival dropped the film.

"The director showed no remorse, and insisted on his stand, and we think screening any of his work at a Palestinian cinema festival would be a big mistake" Abed Hamayel, one of the campaigners, told Arab News.

Kamel Elbasha, a Palestinian actor who stars in the film, criticised the organisers' decision.

"Ziad was punished for that movie which was banned in all Arab countries," he said. He accused the activists of "mixing things up, lying and distorting facts" and questioned their motives for cancelling the screening.