International Short Film Festival Oberhausen Cancels Theme Program by Curators Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak

On November 20, 2023, curators Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak published a statement regarding the cancellation of their theme program The Game is Not the Thing: Sport and the Moving Image from Pre-Cinema to Post-Internet for the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, which was revoked by the festival director Lars Henrik Gass.

The cancellation occurred in response to the curators signing an open letter published on November 1, which was signed by more than 1,900 international artists and cultural workers. The letter was issued in response to a Facebook post published on the festival’s official account on October 20, signed by Gass. In the post, he encouraged others to join a rally in support of Israel and wrote, “Show the world that the Neukölln Hamas friends and Jew haters are in the minority.” Seeking accountability from the institution and its director, the open letter expressed concerns with the use of the festival’s platform for Gass’s own political agenda and the inflammatory nature of his language “that serves to dehumanize and stigmatize Palestinians and anyone showing solidarity with their survival.”

In a follow-up statement on November 3, Gass deflects responsibility for his rhetoric, asserting, “My intention was not to stigmatise the Palestinian population in general, neither in Germany nor abroad. I regret that this impression was created. [...] Our Festival remains a place of free thought and discussion, from which no one should feel excluded because of their political views or cultural background.” Dissatisfied with the insufficiency in addressing the primary concerns raised in the letter, Kashmere and Suparak wrote in their statement following the cancellation, “We are dismayed and saddened by the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen’s inability to adequately respond to what we believe is a reasonable request from the global film community [...]. Maligning Palestinians as ‘friends’ to terrorists is Islamophobic. We cannot stand for these harmful, racist statements. We believe cultural institutions and their leaders must be accountable to the communities that they represent and act on behalf of. Film festivals are not neutral.”

They further pointed out that prior to the cancellation of their program, Gass had told them that their invitation of an Arab artist would not be honored by Gass, and thus by the festival, because the artist had signed a BDS statement. Additionally, Gass claimed that the artist, whom he personally does not know, lacked the "necessary distance to Hamas."

Kashmere and Suparak had invested nearly a year and a half in preparing eight film screening and performance programs, a panel discussion and potential gallery installations. Gass is currently withholding a payment for the work that was submitted prior to the cancellation of the program.