Someone needed to speak up: Israeli filmmaker Lapid on IFFI row

The director had described 'The Kashmir Files' as "propaganda" and "vulgar"

Israeli Filmmaker Nadav Lapid, whose comments on The Kashmir Files at the recently concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI) created a major controversy, said that while he was apprehensive after the interview, he felt "someone needs to speak up."

"It was a hall with thousands of people, and everyone was ecstatic to see the local stars and cheer for the government. In countries that are increasingly losing the ability to speak your mind or speak the truth, someone needs to speak up. When I saw this movie, I couldn't help but imagine its Israeli equivalent, which doesn't exist but could definitely exist. So I felt I had to, because I come from a place that is itself not reformed, and is itself on the way to these places," Lapid told Ynet.

Lapid, viewed as an anti-establishment filmmaker, had expressed shock at 'The Kashmir Files' being screened at the 53rd International Film Festival of India, labelling it as "a vulgar, propaganda film, inappropriate for an artistic, competitive section of such a prestigious film festival".

"I knew that this was an event that is terribly connected to the country, and everyone stands there and praises the government. It is not an easy position, because you are a guest, I am the president of the jury here, you are treated very nicely. And then you come and attack the festival. There was apprehension, and there was discomfort," he said, adding that he was happy to be on his way back.

"When I saw this film, beyond the fact that it shocked me with the transparent combination that exists in it between propaganda and fascism and vulgarity, I couldn't help but imagine an Israeli film like this in another year and a half or two," he said.

A day after the director described the film as "propaganda" and "vulgar", Israel's Ambassador to India Naor Gilon said he had abused India's invitation and should apologise while Israel's Consul General to Midwest India Kobbi Shoshani said the debate would strengthen India-Israel ties.

Lapid's fellow jury members distanced themselves from his views.

The controversy also saw "The Kashmir Files", panned and praised for its portrayal of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during militancy in the early 1990s, back in the news with the BJP and the Congress at loggerheads.