Venice Film Festival Opens Amid Renewed Calls for Palestine Support from Stars and Filmmakers

Palestine has once again become a prominent issue at the Venice Film Festival, with filmmakers, actors and activists continuing to show their support throughout the event. About 1,000 figures from the film and culture industries have now backed an appeal from the Venice4Palestine collective, calling on organisers to take “concrete action in support of Palestine”.

The open letter, issued before the festival got under way on Wednesday, comes a year after the group made a similar appeal during the 2025 event. Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux, musician Roger Waters, film stars Guy Pearce and Indya Moore, and filmmaker Celine Sciamma are among those to sign the letter.

The group is also calling for the Palestinian flag to be flown throughout the festival, alongside those representing other films in the official selection. Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera has since said the request cannot be met because the Biennale is only permitted to fly flags of states officially recognised by Italy.

Two Palestinian films are being shown at Venice this year. Ahmed Hassouna's Citizen Osama follows a photographer attempting to balance his responsibilities as a father and journalist while documenting life during the war in Gaza. Muayad Alayan's drama Conversation with the Sea, meanwhile, is set in Jerusalem and centres on a 60-year-old Palestinian man who becomes caught in a web of Israeli bureaucracy.

Ramy Youssef and Hiam Abbass are among the celebrities backing the Gaza Cinema Academy, an initiative launched at the festival to support emerging Palestinian filmmakers. Co-founded by Palestinian directors Ezzaldeen Shalh and Mai Masri, the academy aims to provide film education in Gaza and to help young filmmakers develop, produce and screen their work internationally.

Susan Sarandon says she is still losing film roles because of her outspoken support for Palestine. Speaking at the festival while promoting her new film The Echo Chamber, the Oscar-winning actress said agencies were continuing to discourage filmmakers from hiring her. Sarandon was dropped by talent agency UTA in 2023 following comments she made at a pro-Palestinian rally.

Meanwhile, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, serving on this year’s competition jury, appeared to incorporate Palestinian symbolism into her red-carpet look by carrying an olive-themed bag. George Clooney also spoke in support of Mark Ruffalo's right to criticise the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger and the Ellison family's links to Israel, while receiving the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the festival.