“There is no threat” – postponement of Hamilton Jewish Film festival slammed, even by Jewish critics of pro-Israel film lineup
Published March 21, 2024 at 6:07 pm
The decision to postpone next month’s Hamilton Jewish Film Festival over “safety concerns” has been slammed on all fronts, including a noted Jewish critic of the pro-Israeli Hamilton Jewish Federation, the organizers of the annual event, who said the concerns are nothing more than “vague, unsubstantiated allegations.”
“There is no threat and there are no safety concerns,” said Rabbi David Mivasair, a member of Hamilton Independent Jewish Voices Hamilton and an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and Zionism, who added that cancelling the event “perpetuates the stereotypes of Palestinians as dangerous people and Jews as victims.”
“Perpetuating this language is not helpful.”
The sixth annual festival was meant to screen at The Playhouse Cinema April 7-9. The cinema and the Hamilton Jewish Federation had been working on the festival since December with the goal to “bring relevant and thought-provoking feature films and documentaries to engage the broadest spectrum of the Jewish community, as well as provide an opportunity for the greater Hamilton community to learn about Jewish culture, Israel and Jewish history.”
Last Saturday the theatre made the decision to ‘postpone’ the event.
“After receiving numerous security and safety related emails, phone calls, and social media messages, the Playhouse Cinema reached a difficult decision to postpone the Hamilton Jewish Federation’s venue rental,” the Tutt family, who own the historic theatre, said in a statement. “Our decision to postpone this venue rental was reached amid security and safety concerns at this particularly sensitive time.”
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The move has received a massive backlash from inside Hamilton and around the world, with the story even receiving major play in the Hollywood Reporter.
The Hamilton Jewish Federation was “outraged” by the Playhouse Cinema’s decision to “backtrack on its commitment” to host the festival, calling the security issues “a small number of complaints and threatening emails” objecting to Israeli films being included in the lineup.
“The decision, coming just weeks before the scheduled event, is a lost opportunity to engage the Greater Hamilton community in a Jewish cultural event during the highest rise of antisemitism we’ve seen in recent history, and in the aftermath of the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust,” their statement read.
On that point, Mivasair is in total agreement with the Federation, who moved the festival to the Playhouse Cinema last year after the original host – Hamilton’s Westdale Theatre, screened ‘Israelism,’ a film critical of the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
Mivasair said the Federation’s call to move the film festival out of the Westdale last year – and sever all ties to the theatre – was about “circling the wagons ever tighter” in suppressing open dialogue about the war in Gaza, which has led to thousands of deaths and a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada, as well as demonstrations here and around the world.
“They tried to say the film itself was ant-semitic and filled with lies. We are Jews in Hamilton and we wanted other Jews to see it.”
Though he has concerns with the message being sent in the festival lineup, Mivasair said it was “not a good idea” to postpone the festival screenings.
“I think the films should have been shown as planned,” he said of the six films scheduled for the festival, “and should have been used to raise very critical issues.”
Mivasair is critical of the tones of at least some of the films in the lineup. He cited Hope Without Boundaries, a movie about an Israeli field hospital established to care for those affected by the war in Ukraine, as a “feel-good puff piece about Israel’s benevolence in sending a field hospital to Ukraine while we know that Israel bombed and destroyed nearly all hospitals in Gaza and targeted and killed well over 100 doctors.”
Women in Sink is another film that Mivasair says glosses over the real story of Palestinians living in Israeli. The short film tells the story of a little hair salon in the heart of the Christian Arab community in Haifa, where director Iris Zaki goes to work as a shampoo girl.
“It puts Palestinians living there in a sympathetic light but fact is those Palestinians are the descendants of people who were expelled from those lands. And they just glossed over that and pretended it’s all nice. It’s a myth created by Zionists.”
Mivasair also called out the “hypocrisy” of the Hamilton Jewish Federation in being outraged over the Playhouse Cinema’s decision and calls of anti-semitism after their reactions to the screening of Israelism.
“They were using Orwellian language to explain its boycott of a community theatre for daring to allow us Jews to see and discuss Israelism, a film made by Jews, about Jews and for Jews to tell our story about ourselves,” he said. “If they were honest they would have said they don’t like the film and they don’t want others to see it. It’s disingenuous at best.”
Criticism over the postponement of the film festival was widespread and included statements from Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath, who called the festival a “wonderful opportunity” for Hamiltonians to learn about Jewish culture and faith and celebrate Jewish artists and filmmakers.
Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath
“I was deeply disappointed to learn of the sudden decision by Playhouse Cinema to postpone this year’s festival due to intimidation and threats of violence against the Jewish community. This is completely unacceptable. Hamilton, we must do better.”
Dan Muys, the Conservative MP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, called it an “outrageous decision” and “quite simply antisemitic,” while Hamilton Councillor Maureen Wilson said postponing the film festival “out of a concern for the safety of moviegoers and staff can only be received with alarm.”
“We must unequivocally denounce and oppose the resurgence of Anti-Semitism and all forms of hate. Let’s renew our dedication to fostering an inclusive community where everyone feels valued and embraced.”
Others in the community also chimed in:
- “In a free and democratic society, we must be gravely concerned when events are cancelled, with venues citing safety and security concerns. Free expression is foundational to the wonderful society we enjoy.”
- “Disgusting. And in our streets angry mobs are freely chanting kill Jews in Arabic. Intimidation is the tactic. And it worked well in this case.”
Other voices took aim at the pro-Israeli stance in the festival lineup:
- “You mean the festival was not pulled out as a form of ‘punishment for Westdale hosting independent Jewish voices?”
- “Isn’t it ironic that the festival chose not to hold its event at the Westdale because it didn’t cancel a screening of a film critical of Israel? Seems like the organizers are fine silencing other voices. The outrage seems hypocritical.”
- “Or maybe we shouldn’t platform a settler colonial state that engages in apartheid. Zionist films should be shunned.”
Other films in the festival lineup include Poland, a coming-of-age story pitting romance against politics set against the backdrop of the volatile Communist era of 1960s Poland; Children of Nobody, about a group of troubled boys trying to save a shelter for at-risk youth in Tel Aviv; Man in The Basement, a psychological thriller about anti-semitism; and The Boy, about a father and son living in a Kibbutz bordering the Gaza Strip.
Filmmaker Yahav Winner, 36, was killed when terrorists stormed into his home on October 7, 2023, the “bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust,” the Hamilton Jewish Federation referred to in their statement on the film festival’s cancellation.
The Tutt family has not responded to media requests to elaborate on the safety concerns that led to the postponement but Hamilton Police has said they are investigating the allegations.
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