During his speech at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa's closing ceremony, Israeli director Nadav Lapid stunned the crowd by slamming the festival for screening the controversial Hindi film 'The Kashmir Files' in competition. Lapid spoke on behalf of the jury and stated they were "disturbed and astonished" to see the movie, while complimenting the rest of the 15 competing films on their exceptional quality.
“We were all of us disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, 'The Kashmir Files', that felt to us like a propaganda, vulgar movie inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival,” Lapid said in his speech.
The film, which is directed by Vivek Agnihotri, tells the story of the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus. The film recounts the evacuation of Pandits from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in the early 1990s in response to escalating insurgency violence. 'The Kahsmir Files' came under fire for having a purportedly propaganda tone.
Who is filmmaker Nadav Lapid?
Nadav Lapid, an Israeli filmmaker, first received his degree from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem after completing his philosophy studies at Tel Aviv University. The Special Jury Prize was awarded to Lapid's debut feature film, 'Policeman', at the 2011 Locarno International Film Festival.
Talking of his work, 2019's 'Synonyms', directed by Nadav Lapid, took home the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The Kindergarten Teacher, which had its world premiere in the Critics Week section of the Cannes Feature Festival in 2014, is another film the director has made. At the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, he again served as a jury member for the Critics Week segment.
'Ahed's Knee', a tale inspired by the screenwriter and director's own experience of political interference, was his competition entry for the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. In order to screen one of his films, an Israeli filmmaker travels to a desolate desert hamlet. He runs across a young member of the culture ministry there, who requests his signature on a document outlining the discussion subjects he would like to pursue.
According to reports, Lapid has begun work on a new project. The movie focuses on Ahed Tamini, a Palestinian teenager who, in 2017, when she was 16, slapped an Israeli soldier and was sentenced to prison.