IFFI Jury Member Distances Himself From Nadav Lapid’s Criticism ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia )
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Filmmaker Sudipto Sen, who served on the jury of the just-concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI), took to Twitter to state that the opinion of Israeli screenwriter and director Nadav Lapid on ‘The Kashmir Files’ was entirely his own and not shared by his colleagues on the jury.
Clarifying his position, Sen said: “Whatever has been said by the Jury Chairman Mr Nadav Lapid about the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ from the stage of the closing ceremony of 53rd IFFI was completely his personal opinion.”
The Jury member went on to say: “In the official presentation of the Jury Board to the Festival Director and in the official Press Conference, where we four jury members (the fifth had to leave for a personal emergency) were present and interacted with the press, we never mentioned anything about our likes or dislikes. Both were our official collective opinion.”
Sen concluded by noting: “As jurors, we are assigned to judge the technical, aesthetic quality and socio-cultural relevance of a film. We don’t indulge in any kind of political comments on any film and if it is done, it is completely in a personal capacity — nothing to do with the esteemed Jury Board.”
On the other hand, Israel’s Ambassador in India, Naor Gilon took to Twitter to write a long open letter that read, “An open letter to #NadavLapid following his criticism of #KashmirFiles. It’s not in Hebrew because I wanted our Indian brothers and sisters to be able to understand. It is also relatively long so I’ll give you the bottom line first. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED.”
