A row has broken out after a Cape Town film theatre refused to screen a pro-Palestinian film.
|||A row has broken out after a city film theatre refused to screen a pro-Palestinian film.
Pro-Palestine group Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), through a publishing company, requested to show the film, Roadmap to Apartheid, at the Labia Theatre on Orange Street.
The movie made by film-makers Ana Nogueira and Eron Davidson would have been screened on March 4. But after Labia management discovered that it was “political” and “could spark controversy” he turned them down.
According to its website, the film explores the comparison with apartheid in the enduring Israel-Palestine conflict and shows why Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them.
PSC chairperson Martin Jansen said he did not understand how Labia’s management had turned the movie down as they had not seen it. “We are not sure what their assessment is based on,” Jansen said.
He said this showed what kind of influence local Zionist lobbyists had.
“It has successfully created a climate of fear and intimidated establishments like the Labia not to provide a democratic space for the public to get a fuller and more truthful picture of the situation inPalestine and the oppressive role of the Israeli regime.
“Under pressure from the Zionists, the Labia management now proclaim neutrality and being apolitical, very similar to the passive role they played in relation to apartheid,” Jansen said.
They had wanted to meet Labia owner Ludi Krause.
Krause said he had declined as they had threatened him with litigation and the media.
He denied that Zionists influenced him.
“As an independent company our policy is not to get involved in political issues. We feel we should not show a film that could spark controversy. We don’t want to show a film that would offend either side. The film’s website… doesn’t seem objective.”
Krause said he would have turned down the film at the first request, but the publishing company had failed to disclose the name of the movie and who wanted to screen it.
The Labia had turned down a few screenings because they were political or offensive towards a particular group, Krause said.
Under apartheid the Labia Theatre was a place to which many people would go to watch movies critical of racism or those restricted to audiences that were not black.
Wendy Kahn, national director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, said: “Importing a conflict in a one-sided manner can offend many South Africans. It is the prerogative of the owner of the Labia to decide whether to show the movie.” - Cape Times
xolani.koyana@inl.co.za