The war in Gaza is coming to Park City.
It has been rumored for weeks that a pro-Palestinian protest will be held at noon on January 21 at the Sundance Film Festival. Whether coincidentally or not, the “Let Gaza Live” rally is being organized around the same time that a partner panel at Sundance on “Deadly Metaphors About Jews and Israel on Television, Film, and the Media” is scheduled to convene on Sunday. Presented by an American Orthodox Jewish non-profit organization Jew in the City, the Metaphors panel was not programmed by the festival.
“We invite you to come together with us to peacefully protest at the Sundance Film Festival, one of the largest independent film festivals in the world, showcasing documentaries and films that break barriers,” protest organizers said on social media last week. “While the bombs fall, people cannot continue watching movies on their screens while ignoring the genocide in Gaza,” they say.
“Although we do not engage with Sundance as a whole, we aim to let viewers and news reporters know that UT stands with Palestine,” adds the UT Palestinian Solidarity Group.
“We have also been made aware of the demonstration and its commitment to maintaining a peaceful environment,” a Sundance Institute spokesperson told Deadline on Friday night. “Although the organizers are not affiliated with the festival itself, the safety and security of our festival-goers is always our concern, and we continually work with local law enforcement to support a welcoming, inspiring and safe environment for all our attendees.”
Park City Police did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on the protests. However, an informed source told us that police will take to the streets to ensure there is no disturbance. The source announced: “There were a number of marches here, and they were all peaceful, and these marches will also be peaceful if things go as they should.”
Some Sundance attendees were not so optimistic.
He asked: “Will anyone criticize Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist regime that rapes, kills and slaughters its own people?” Malina Saval asked in the comments of the post announcing the protests. Saval is the moderator of the Sunday session Cults, lies and videotape: Exposing deadly tropes about Jews and Israel in television, film, and the media She continued, saying: “Will there be actual support for the Palestinian people, or is this just a gathering of Jew haters?”
“This is clearly an attempt to steal the festival’s media spotlight,” one industry expert said upon hearing of the protest. She concluded by saying: “Do not be surprised if this backfires. People are here to work and to sell,” noting her alarm at the civilian casualties resulting from the Israeli bombing of Gaza since Hamas attacked the Jewish state on October 7.
More than 1,400 people were killed in the brutal siege, there is detailed evidence of widespread rape and hundreds of people, including young children, were taken hostage. Within hours, Israel responded with air strikes and shelling of potential Hamas strongholds. Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of IDF soldiers crossed the border into Gaza. As Hamas retreated from the ground, Gaza was destroyed and most of the population displaced.
Remaining relatively confined to the volatile region, despite some attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea, the war has seen pro-Palestinian protests around the world and clashes at the United Nations amid calls for a permanent ceasefire. At the same time, acts of anti-Semitism and threats against Jewish institutions rose sharply throughout the Western world. Currently, the Israeli coalition government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea of a permanent ceasefire and a two-state solution that the United States has long called for.
The Sundance Film Festival kicked off on January 18 and continues until January 28.