Image by getty images

Leaders of the Czech Jewish community criticized a local film festival’s decision to honor actor and director Mel Gibson.

Image by getty images

Gibson is due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Karlovy Vary film festival.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Czech Federation of Jewish Communities said in a statement that Gibson was unworthy of the honor both because of a 2006 drunken anti-Semitic rant and because of his controversial 2004 film “The Passion of the Christ,” which some critics had called anti-Semitic.

The federation called the film “one of the most offensive movies ever shot” because of “classic stereotypes” about Jews, which may serve to “justify anti-Jewish hatred.”

Uljana Donatova, spokeswoman for the festival, held in the western spa city, said organizers respect the federation’s opinion, “but we are only assessing Mel Gibson’s career as a filmmaker,” she told AFP.

The organizers of the 49th edition of the festival, which runs from Friday to July 12, will also award a lifetime achievement award to U.S. filmmaker William Friedkin, known for his thriller “The Exorcist.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount