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 comments, Lapid tried to show that his ideas were shared by all of the jury members.
But another juror said he or she had nothing to do with the statement and that the subject had never come up in jury meetings. He also said that Lapid's statement was made in his own name.
The question – who is this Nadav Lapid? And why the organisers of the IFFI under the direct supervision of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting roped in such a controversial person in its jury.
Nadav Lapid is a writer and filmmaker born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1975. He has been snubbed by the Israel's Ambassador in India for his uncalled for comments in India.
Nadav's name has been linked to IFFI before. At the 45th FIL awards, Sarit Larry, who played the lead in his 2014 film The Kindergarten Teacher, won the award for Best Actor (Female).
Filmmaker Nadav Lapid is known for being a Palestine sympathiser and often speaking against his own homeland Israel. A group of 250 Israeli filmmakers, including the 47-year-old, signed an open letter to protest the Shomron Film Fund. According to reports, the group thought 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 group of filmmakers, including Lapid, spoke out against the fund, the older filmmakers came to its defence 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 movie talks about the Israeli soul as a whole, and the Israeli soul as a whole is sick. Something at the core of what it means to be an Israeli is false and bad. Not just Benjamin Netanyahu, and not just in Israel. But at the same time, I think this Israeli sickness or nature is shown by young Israeli men who are muscular, smile, and don't ask any questions or have any doubts. They are very pleased to be Israeli. They see the world in a very black-and-white way: “Us against everyone else.”
In 2021, with his film Ahed's Knee, Lapid tried to show his “love-hate” relationship with the homeland. Reports said that “government meddling” in his own life gave him the idea for the movie. In a press conference, he said, “A sort of intimacy towards Israel sneaked behind my back and got into the screen.” He also said, “I want to show how a state or place can sometimes change, torture, or pervert people's souls, rather 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 less well-known filmmaker doesn't seem to have enough experience to be the head judge at a film festival that has been going on for more than 50 years.
