Film festival chief ‘sorry’ for row over Israeli cash

The Scotsman, 23 May 2009 by Shan Ross

ORGANISERS of the Edinburgh film festival apologised last night for the "distress" caused after it accepted cash from the Israeli embassy, sparking a major funding row.

The controversy began after the £300 donation was earmarked to pay travel costs to the capital for Tali Shalom Ezer, the Israeli director of Surrogate, a short feature film being showcased at the event.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) came under fire from pro-Palestinian groups – including British director Ken Loach, who called for a boycott.

The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) threatened to picket screenings and began an e-mail campaign against accepting the donation.

Ginnie Atkinson, the EIFF managing director, said not accepting support from one particular country "would set a dangerous precedent by politicising what is a wholly cultural and artistic mission".

After the EIFF did a U-turn and returned the cash to the embassy, the director Shalom Ezer accused Loach of "racism" and the festival of allowing politics to overshadow their artistic showcase.

Now Iain Smith, the EIFF chairman, has issued an apology and announced a review to try to ensure there are no similar incidents in future.

He said: "On behalf of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, I apologise sincerely for the distress many people have felt at changes in the arrangements for bringing the producer and director of the film Surrogate to the festival.

"Clearly, we didn't appreciate enough that our festival cannot keep itself entirely detached from very serious geopolitical issues and I am instituting a review of our procedures to ensure there can be no repeat incident."

Mike Napier, the chairman of the SPSC, welcomed the announcement, saying: "I hope Mr Smith is referring to the distress he caused a lot of film-goers in Edinburgh and worldwide by allowing a public link to the Israeli government.

"I hope the lesson won't be lost on the festival's organisers. It is also naive to think that film and culture can be separate from world politics, as was shown by the attempts to keep sport separate from the atrocities of South Africa."

In 2006, the EIFF rejected money from the Israeli government, which was to have been used to send an Israeli film-maker, Yoav Shamir, to Edinburgh for the festival.