Director Ken Loach Boycotts Israel — But Still Shows His Films There
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — The British film director Ken Loach has become a fierce advocate of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, but his films have been shown there for over 20 years.
Loach’s producer told the Guardian on Friday that it is a “mistake” that his latest film, “I, Daniel Blake,” is currently showing in Israeli cinemas. Rebecca O’Brien said the distribution company Wild Bunch had made a deal to bring the film to Israel during last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“We have asked Wild Bunch before not to sell to Israel,” O’Brien said. “But what happened this time – and what has happened before – is that during Cannes, things happen very fast and a junior member of the company went and sold it to Israel in the heat of the moment, forgetting we had asked for it not to be sold there.”
Loach’s Israeli distributor told the Guardian that the claims are “absurd.”
“We’ve been showing his movies for years,” said Guy Shani, who runs Shani Films and the Lev cinema chain. ” I have been paying him money every year. His latest film, ‘I, Daniel Blake,’ has been really successful in Israel.
“It is a conundrum that has puzzled me, too. It seems that Ken Loach feels himself exempt from the cultural boycott.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
