A conversation with filmmakers and cinema workers who signed the statement denouncing the FID Marseille—and, more broadly, film festivals—for their insistence on creating a false symmetry in their invitations and programmes between Palestinian (and Arab) productions and Israeli ones.“The priority is not to produce images of coexistence, but to act against a colonial and genocidal reality.”

For this political act of refusal, the signatories found themselves accused of essentialism and censorship within the film and cultural world, as well as in the French press. In short: they were not listened to. Why? What are the ideas and political positions driving this mobilisation?


“Palestinian narratives, archives of Arab struggles, and the memories of colonised peoples cannot be mobilised as mere tokens of openness that feed a clear conscience. Political courage is not measured by the number or the films programmed, but by the ability to acknowledge power relations.” (Oui le cinéma est politique)
Film festivals and cinemas are also spaces of solidarity with the struggles of peoples and the oppressed—especially the Palestinian struggle for liberation against colonialism.
How do we define a decolonial cinema? Can we programme political cinema without questioning our own structures and complicity? How can we assert ourselves (with our spaces, our terms, our fronts) in the face of the risk of capitalising on the aesthetics of struggle? How do we create spaces capable of rethinking the conditions in which our programming gestures take place? How can we shift power dynamics and move beyond moral posturing towards the political?


With Maya Boukella (Decolonial Film Festival), Sam Leter and Pauline Pénichout (Tsedek!), Anaïs Farine and Susanne Abu Ghaida (Festival Ciné-Palestine), Mathilde Rouxel (Association Jocelyne Saab),Meriem Rahbi and Charlie Andriol (Videodrome 2) (Videodrome 2), and Coline Costes (FID OFF).


Moderated by Samy Benammar, independent filmmaker and programmer.


Open discussion with the audience and other collectives and programmers present.

9pm
Palestinian meal by Sawt Palestine (€10), in support of the association.

A decade after the Oslo Accords, and in the face of the ongoing colonization, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, numerous Palestinian organizations called for the creation of an international solidarity movement capable of exerting effective pressure on Israel. This led to the launch of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in 2004, followed by the broader Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign in 2005.

We must collectively organize to respond to PACBI’s call and compel Israel to respect the rights of Palestinians. This initiative is all the more necessary because culture has become one of the principal showcases through which Israel launders and normalizes its colonial policies, promoting an image of itself as democratic, liberal, and self-critical. Cultural boycott—which often raises questions and uncertainties—is a response to this strategy of normalization.

Open to filmmakers, artists, cultural workers, activists, and anyone interested, this workshop will introduce the principles of the cultural boycott, examine its political stakes, and discuss strategies for organizing effective campaigns. It will also provide practical guidance on applying the boycott within the film sector through a guided reading of the PACBI guidelines and an analysis of concrete case studies.

The training will be led by members of the French Coordination for the Academic, Cultural and Sports Boycott of Israel (FRACBI), established in 2026 by BDS activists, artists, academics, educators, and athletes to coordinate boycott actions across these sectors.