In case you’ve ever wondered how much those who encourage the isolation of Israel intend to practice what they preach, the artistes at the Venice Film Festival have provided an answer: not one bit.
Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who had a surprising hit with last year’s body-horror The Substance, clearly wanted to bask in admiration while promoting his next film. Unfortunately, the politicization of every corner of life intruded. Jarmusch’s new movie, Father Mother Sister Brother, is being released by the distributor and streaming company Mubi. Recently, anti-Israel activists have targeted Mubi because one of its investors, Sequoia Capital, has also invested in an Israeli defense-tech startup that focuses on border security in response to the Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023. Since Israeli self-defense tech is highly controversial among opponents of the Jewish state’s survival, activists have sought to make Mubi appear guilty by association with a firm that is guilty by association with Israel.
It’s not a very strong case, as one can tell by the number of associations involved in declaring Mubi’s guilt. And that is exactly what Jim Jarmusch could and should have said when asked about his working with Mubi. Instead, Jarmusch got annoyed because he was asked, metaphorically, to sleep in the bed he made.
Jarmusch pronounced himself “disappointed and quite disconcerted” by Mubi’s reported relationship with a company that has a relationship with an Israeli company. He then proceeded to offer the following self-exoneration:
“I’m not the spokesman [for Mubi]. However, yes, I was concerned. I also have a distribution agreement with Mubi for certain territories, which I also had entered into before my knowledge of this. But having said that, on a personal level, I have to say I’m an independent filmmaker, and I have taken money from various sources to be able to realize my films. And I consider pretty much all corporate money [to be] dirty money. If you start analyzing each of these film companies and their financing structures, you’re going to find a lot of nasty dirt. It’s all there.”
So, yes, the money is dirty. But all money is dirty, not just money that is second cousins with Israeli money. Jarmusch is arguing that everything he does is tainted but he’s got to get paid:
“We could avoid it and not make films at all, but the films are what I choose to carry. So yes, I’m concerned, but one thing I don’t like is that — and you have not done this — but putting the onus of the explanation of this on us, the artists. It’s not us, it’s Mubi you must address. … Not just Mubi but other companies as well.”
What do you want Jim Jarmusch to do—not make movies? What kind of world would that be? And anyway, you shouldn’t be asking him about the ethical investments of the companies that pay him, because he cannot be expected to match his deeds to his words on Gaza.
But the best part of the press conference came after Jarmusch stopped speaking. Jarmusch had been joined onstage by other actors in his new movie, one of which was Indya Moore, who likes to hold up signs accusing Israel of genocide. Moore figured she should chime in, lest she look like a complete hypocrite. The word salad Moore produced was an utterly spectacular demonstration of what happens when you insist on talking despite having nothing to say:
“Since the genocide of Palestinians began, there has been an incredible amount of creative warfare and resource warfare behind the scenes. What people are trying to figure out is how do we work in a capacity that is ethical and is not enabling a systemic pipeline that funds these kinds of things to happen to people. The due diligence that people are learning how to do is a developing process. These are not questions that we’ve ever had to ask before, especially as independent artists, and we’re all trying to figure out how to navigate this, you know, and survive.”
Magnificent stuff. Moore believes she is innocent because it’s all so very confusing. She’s trying to figure it all out, you see. It’s a “developing process.” Meantime, she’ll take that paycheck, thank you very much.
Moore was not done:
“We share the planet with a lot of people, a lot of different people who believe different things and who behave in different ways toward others. We cannot always control the spaces that we are in when we are in company with those people.”
That is a very strong argument against the entire existence of the boycott-Israel industry. It is also an argument against the aggressive and knowingly false accusations against the Jewish state, which neither Jim Jarmusch nor Indya Moore even pretends to believe. No doubt they are highly representative of their field in that regard.
