On November 28, Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid sparked a controversy by calling filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s film The Kashmir files ‘vulgar’ and ‘propaganda’ during his concluding remarks at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that was held in Goa. In his remarks, Lapid attempted to show his opinions as a collective agreement from all the jury members.
However, another jury member categorically denied being part of the statement and said the issue was not raised during jury meetings. He added that Lapid gave the statement in his personal capacity.
Who is Nadav Lapid?
Nadav Lapid is a writer and filmmaker born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1975. He studied philosophy at Tel Aviv University and Literature in Paris. In 2001, he published a novel titled “Continua Bailando”. He has worked as a cinematographer on several documentaries. In 2006, he graduated from Sam Spiegel Film School, Jerusalem. In 2011, he received a special jury prize for the Policeman, his debut feature film, at Locarno International Film Festival.
In 2019, he was awarded the Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival. In 2014, his film The Kindergarten Teacher premiered during the Critic Week section of the Cannes Feature Festival. In 2016, he served as a jury member for Cannes Film Festival’s Critics Week. He has won numerous awards throughout his lesser-known career as a filmmaker.
Nadav’s connection to IFFI
Nadav’s name has been linked to IFFI before. His 2014 film The Kindergarten Teacher’s actor Sarit Larry won the Best Actor Award (Female) at the 45th edition of the fil awards.
Earlier controversies linked to Nadav
Filmmaker Nadav Lapid is known for being a Palestine sympathiser and often speaking against his own homeland Israel. The 47-year-old Israeli filmmaker was among a group of 250 Israeli filmmakers who signed an open letter to protest against the Shomron Film Fund. As per reports, the group felt that it had only one goal, which was to invite Israeli filmmakers to “actively participate in whitewashing the Occupation in exchange for financial support and prizes.” The main aim of the said film fund is to provide finance to the films created by the settlers and about Jewish settlements. After the backlash from the group of filmmakers, including Lapid, the veteran filmmakers had come in support of the fund and called it “a new home for creation”.
In 2019, during one of his interviews with the Now Toronto magazine about his movie Synonyms, Lapid called the collective soul of Israel a “sick soul”. He said, “The film talks about the collective Israeli soul, and the Israeli collective soul is a sick soul. Something in the deepest essence of Israeli existence is false – it is rotten. It’s not just Benjamin Netanyahu – it’s not special to Israel. But, at the same time, I think this Israeli sickness or nature is characterised by young Israeli men who are muscular, smiling, who don’t raise any questions and don’t have any doubts. They are extremely proud of being Israeli. They have a total dichotomist vision of existence: Us versus all the others.”
In 2021, with his film Ahed’s Knee, Lapid tried to show his “love-hate” relationship with the homeland. The film was inspired by his own experience of “government meddling”, reports suggested. In a press conference, he said, “A sort of intimacy towards Israel sneaked behind my back and got into the screen.” He added, “want to show how people’s souls are changed, tormented, perverted sometimes by a state, by a place, less than talking about the state of Israel itself.”
Lapid, despite having a sharply critical view of his own country, was invited to IFFI as chief jury. The lesser-known filmmaker’s credentials do not seem well-versed to be the chief jury member of a film festival that has been going on for over 50 years.
