BDS guidelines ensnare award-winning Palestinian actor
A screening of the film “The Insult,” for which a Palestinian won a coveted acting award, was canceled in Ramallah because the film's director had worked in Israel on his previous movie.
The Ramallah municipality was forced to cancel the screening of a Lebanese film for which Palestinian actor Kamel El Basha won a prestigious international award. The screening of “The Insult” by Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri, scheduled for Oct. 22, the final day of the Palestinian Days of Cinema film festival, was canceled on the orders of Ramallah Mayor Musa Abu Hadid after protests against Doueiri. The cancellation denied a planned celebratory homecoming for the Jerusalem-born Basha, who won the coveted Best Actor Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival in September.
The protests — instigated largely by a small, ad hoc group called Youths Against Normalization — centered on Doueiri having previously produced a film in Tel Aviv, working with Israeli actors and crews. The group rationalized its protest as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The BDS appears to have put itself in a bind over “The Insult.” While it issued a statement that clearly says the film does not violate its guidelines, it also said the director’s previous film, “The Attack,” released in 2012, does violate them.
After the cancellation of the Ramallah screening, Basha told a crowded press contingency, “BDS does not represent me.” Later speaking to Al-Monitor, Basha explained that although he has always supported calls for boycotting Israel, he has been calling on BDS for years to revisit some of its guidelines that have infringed upon or otherwise hurt the ability of Palestinian artists to work or develop their talents.
