"Stateless" Movies

“I am a filmmaker and I represent myself as an Israeli artist and consider my project to be an Israeli project.” This is the first line of the new loyalty oath prescribed by Israeli film fund YehoshuaRabinovichand any director seeking financial support from the Yehoshua Rabinovich Fund has to sign this contract from now on. This new condition was stipulated following the controversy generated by Palestinian director Suha Arraf last year. During the international film festivals that screened her debut “Villa Touma,” such as the film festivals in Venice and Toronto, Arraf refused to introduce her film as an Israeli film and insisted it was Palestinian. This was despite the fact that Arraf’s film received funding from three Israeli organizations.