p2pnet news view Politics | Movies:- Harry Belafonte and Noam Chomsky are among famous activists who’ve signed a declaration opposing the Toronto film festival’s decision to showcase Tel Aviv in its inaugural City to City program.

“On the other hand,” continues the Toronto Star, “filmmakers Ivan Reitman, Robert Lantos and David Cronenberg and actress Minnie Driver have signed on to the camp supporting the festival and the Tel Aviv program, accusing their opponents of, among other things, ‘political censorship’.”

Not that famous faces are anything new in political protests.

Jane Fonda is, for example, still living down her active and very public support of the ‘Democratic Republic of Vietnam’ during the Vietnam war.

Now, “The protest and counterprotest over a Tel Aviv sidebar escalated Thursday as the Toronto International Film Festival got under way,” says the Hollywood Reporter, going on:

“Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Los Angeles-based founder of the Simon Weisenthal Center, told a hastily arranged Toronto news conference that the critics of the Israeli film showcase were taking criticism of Israel to a new low.”

But, “Empowered groups of people, deciding whose stories can, and cannot be told, does nothing but remind us of oppression that has no place in filmmaking,” it has Minnie Driver declaring.

And speaking of Fonda, she’s among more than 50 people who’ve signed what is being called The Toronto Declaration.

Drafted by a committee that includes Canadian writer Naomi Klein and Israeli filmmaker Udi Aloni, it’s, “the latest move in a controversy that began when Canadian director John Greyson withdrew his short documentary, Covered, from the festival last week,” says the National Post, adding:

” The veteran filmmaker is protesting the festival’s inaugural City to City Spotlight on Tel Aviv, a 10-movie program that TIFF’s website promises will ‘explore the evolving urban experience while presenting the best documentary and fiction films from and about a selected city’.”

Say the protesters in their open letter »»»

As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. We protest that TIFF, whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.

2009 is Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary.

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Toronto Star – War of words steals the show, September 11, 2009
Hollywood Reporter – Israel flap escalates as Toronto festival starts, September 11, 2009
National Post – Artists, authors sign letter protesting Israeli spotlight at TIFF, September 3, 2009

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 9:34 am and is filed under Movies, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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