Film directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh have stepped down as patrons of an independent cinema following its hosting of an Israeli-state sponsored film festival.
Both directors have been long-time supporters of The Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley. However, they have now severed ties with the Phoenix Cinema Trust after it proceeded with a private screening of “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre” on May 23, which was part of the Seret film festival.
Loach and Leigh independently confirmed their resignations as patrons over the screening of this documentary.
An undisclosed number of staff and managers from Phoenix, along with pro-Palestine solidarity groups, have urged the cinema’s management to refrain from showing the film due to the Seret festival’s connections to the Israeli Embassy in London and the Culture Ministry.
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Demonstrations and counter-protests are anticipated to occur later in the evening outside the Phoenix Cinema. On Thursday morning, the site was reportedly vandalized with red graffiti reading: “Say no to artwashing.”
According to a report by The Guardian, Loach and Leigh resigned as patrons because the trust did not take action. The directors were among over 40 creatives who called for a boycott of Seret in 2015, arguing that cinemas benefiting from funds from the Israeli state were complicit in the violence against the Palestinian people.
