Activists succeed in cancelling Doueiri’s Ramallah movie screening

MENA

Published: 2017-10-23 22:22

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 19:17


Ziad Doueiri’s film, The Insult.
Ziad Doueiri’s film, The Insult.

The Days of Cinema Palestinian film festival announced on Sunday they will cancel the screening of “The Insult”, directed by Ziad Doueiri’s film, following campaigns against the Lebanese-French director's previous work in Israel.

A campaign went viral on social media between Lebanese and Palestinian activists, with the hashtag #لن_يعرض, "it will not be screened", calling authorities to drop the film over Doueiri’s normalization with Israel.

Ramallah City, which was hosting the screening, told the festival to cancel it, according to a spokeswoman for the festival, which agreed to the cancellation.

The Insult, is about a dispute between a Lebanese man and a Palestinian refugee who were in dispute after the latter tries to repair a drainpipe on in the other's building. The fallout leads to violence, courtroom confrontations, and national attention.

The movie was set to close the Days of Cinema festival on Monday and was competing for the festival’s top award.

Earlier this month, Doueiri was held for three hours in Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport and was questioned by the police. Doueiri said was an attempt to suppress his new film, which just won a prize at the Venice Film Festival, according to Variety website.

Activists accused Doueiri of normalization with Israel after he lived there between 2010-2011, during the time he directed his movie ‘The Attack’.

The film is about a Palestinian surgeon living in Tel Aviv, who discovers that his wife carried out a deadly suicide attack, and was banned in Lebanon and most Arab countries.