BAFTA-nominated producer Leo Pearlman recently spoke about “institutional antisemitism” in the UK film industry at an event organised by the JC.
Discussing his recent documentary, Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again, and its reception in the industry, Mr Pearlman said: “I’m not going to mince words and say it’s anti-Israel and anti-Zionism. Institutional antisemitism is what it is.”
He told the audience that his film, which uses footage from the massacre at the Nova Festival on 7th October 2023, has been “shut down at every single turn” by film festivals and advertisers.
Comparing the response to his documentary to No Other Land, a film about settlers in the West Bank, Mr Pearlman remarked, “If you’re making a film like ours, then the arts is not a place for you.”
He also said that Jews were welcome in the arts on the condition that they created content that would be approved by people on “the far-left and its extremity”.
Mr Pearlman also accused the BBC of releasing another documentary, Life and Death in Gaza, two weeks after it published his to ensure it had enough balance.
A spokesperson for the BBC said that both documentaries were part of a group of programmes to mark the anniversary of the massacre. They also said: “This conflict is a challenging and polarising story to cover, and we are committed to providing impartial reporting for audiences in the UK and across the world.”
86% of British Jews are not satisfied with the BBC’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas crisis. Only 4% are satisfied, according to our representative polling.
