Festival cancels sponsorship in protest at Lebanon conflict

One of Scotland’s leading festivals has cancelled sponsorship from the Israeli embassy in protest against the conflict in Lebanon.

Edinburgh International Film Festival will now no longer accept money from the embassy, which was to help pay for a visit by Israeli film-maker Yoav Shamir later this month to promote his documentary, Five Days (Chamisha Yamim).

It was also announced yesterday Israel’s first game of the Cricket European Championships in Scotland this week had been postponed.

Shane Danielsen, artistic director of the festival, said the screening of the film would go ahead and the festival would pay for Mr Shamir’s trip. He said the situation in Lebanon was “by no standards good and there comes a point when you have to make a stand against these things”.

He admitted the sum involved amounted to “not much”. It is understood to be £300.

The action is a rare openly political act by one of the summer’s Edinburgh festivals. The embassy did not comment on the decision last night.

Five Days is due to be shown on August 16 and 18. It depicts five days in Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and features unprecedented access to both the army and some of the 8000 settlers. Mr Danielsen said it was an “intelligent and non-partisan” film.

He added Mr Shamir had long been a “trenchant critic” of the Israeli government’s policies – his previous film, Checkpoint, was “an explicitly pro-Palestinian work”.

Israel’s cricket match with Jersey was scheduled to take place at Weirs CC on the south side of Glasgow tomorrow but Strathclyde Police ordered it moved to New Anniesland, home of Glasgow Academicals.

Police claim the west-end venue is the only one capable of coping with up to 2000 demonstrators. However, the club refused permission for its ground to be used because there is a nursery adjacent to their clubhouse.

Cricket Scotland could now be held responsible for failing to meet its obligations to the sport’s world governing body, the ICC, unless an alternative venue is found, and could face a £250,000 penalty if the tournament cannot go ahead.

source from http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/67143.html