Ticino Film Festival Drops Israel in Protest

The organizers of this year's Locarno International Film Festival have removed the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from its lists of sponsors in protest of Israel's most-recent bombing campaigns in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Several Lebanese and Palestinian film directors made it clear that they would not attend the festival if Israel remained a sponsor, stating, "We make this demand in consideration of the hundreds of innocent civilians that have been murdered by the State of Israel in its ongoing campaign... ...We do so because we are in solidarity with those who are under siege..."

Locarno is on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore, in Ticino, an Italian-speaking region in southern Switzerland with strong historical and cultural ties to Italy.

The Locarno International Film Festival is August 2nd-12th.