Palestinian Activists Host Alternative Event in Locarno’s Piazza Grande

As Locarno’s 8,000-strong Piazza Grande audience welcomed Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan on stage Saturday evening, a smaller crowd gathered nearby for an alternative film event. Organized by the left-wing cooperative Coordinamento Unico a sostegno della Palestina/Coordination in support of Palestine (Cusp), a group of activists and Locarno festival delegates huddled around a pop-up projector for an evening film screening about Palestine.

The event took place on a piece of green next to the Teatro di Locarno, a venue primarily used for press screenings, just a few meters away from the large Piazza Grande screen. The evening began with a book drive featuring literature on Palestinian history and merchandise such as keffiyeh scarves. The demonstration drew mixed reactions from unaffiliated passersby, some of whom voiced their displeasure.

“Return the hostages and we’ll stop the bombs,” one counter-demonstrator, a Locarno Film Festival delegate, addressed the crowd. As the gathering grew, the organizers screened a series of Palestinian-shot short films, followed by American journalist Abby Martin’s feature documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom (2019).

The event was not officially affiliated with the Locarno Film Festival, but organizers announced they plan to hold another evening of screenings on August 16, the penultimate night of the festival. The headline film for that night will be Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen’s documentary Israelism, which recently secured U.S. distribution through Watermelon Pictures. This documentary follows two young American Jews who travel to Israel seeking a deeper understanding of the country’s history and its impact on their identities.

The Locarno Film Festival runs until August 17.

Source: Deadline