Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera on Wednesday said no to requests by the Venice4Gaza group to exclude artists accused of "supporting genocide" on the Strip after Israeli actress Gal Gadot and Scottish actor Gerard Butler pulled out after the group targeted them.
    Regarding requests to express a position on Gaza, "our position is that, on the one hand, we are the leading Italian cultural institution, a place of openness, discussion, and debate, which does not exercise any form of censorship against anyone," said Barbera.
    "For this reason, we reject the request to exclude artists if they intend to attend the Film Festival.
    "And on the other hand, we have never hesitated to clearly express and declare our enormous suffering in the face of what is happening in Gaza and Palestine." Barbera was speaking as he introduced the juries, with the main one led by Sideways director Alexander Payne, ahead of the opening night of the fest with The Great Beauty director Paolo Sorrentino's latest La Grazia and a career Golden Lion for German director Werner Herzog.

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