NFDC nullfies Israel Film Festival in Mumbai following military strikes in Gaza
NFDC nullfies Israel Film Festival in Mumbai following military strikes in Gaza
In the backdrop of the Israeli military strikes on Gaza, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has
nullified the Israel Film Festival in Mumbai in response to an online signature campaign against the event. The festival was scheduled to be held at the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) between August 21 and 22, 2024.
A citizen group including prominent actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, veteran freedom fighter Dr. G.G. Parekh, writer and activist Tushar Gandhi (great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), senior journalist Javed Anand and others led a signature campaign urging the NFDC to put-off the event amid the Israeli war crimes in Gaza. The campaign was organised by the India Palestine Solidarity Forum and received over a thousand signatures.
A statement issued read that the screening by the NFDC is
disgracefully being held at a time, when the entire world is witness to Israeli war crimes, the ongoing Holocaust and the genocide in Gaza, and across all of Palestine.
It cited research on Israeli atrocities in Palestine, adding that the Indian government recognises the state of Palestine and has called for ceasefires in the ongoing war.
The statement also added that in keeping with the Indian tradition of supporting anti-colonial liberation struggles, they, as a nation, have always stood with Palestine, and here too the NFDC & the NMIC stand in utter violation of the very spirit of India, the India of Buddha & Gandhi.
News Edit K.V.Raman
