New Delhi, Dec 4, 2022: The row over “The Kashmir Files” continues to persist as three other IFFI jury members have come out in support of Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid. In a statement released on Twitter, Jinko Gotoh, Pascale Chavance, and Javier Angulo Barturen stood by Lapid’s controversial criticism of “The Kashmir Files.”
The three jurors stated that Lapid spoke on behalf of the IFFI jury members, and that they all back his statement referring to the film ‘vulgar propaganda.’ They further said that it was not a political stance on the content, and the politicisation of Lapid’s artistic remark during a festival has saddened them.
Janko Gotoh is a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) winner and was part of the five member jury at IFFI. Javier Angulo is a documentary filmmaker, film critic, and journalist from France and Pascale Chavanche is a French film editor.
When inquired about why he spoke about a movie that wasn’t selected for an award, Lapid told a media channel, “Yes, basically, the jury does not do that. They are supposed to watch movies, savour them, talk about their merits and select winners. But then basically movies like The Kashmir Files shouldn’t be part of the competition section at film festivals. I have been part of the jury in dozens of festivals, including the international ones held in Berlin, Cannes, Locarno and Venice. Never ever have I watched a movie like The Kashmir Files at these festivals. When you show a movie like this to the jury, you force them to behave differently.”
