The Japan Times - 'Shame on Hollywood': Cannes-winning writer rails at stance on Gaza

Paul Laverty, who wrote two films that won Cannes' top prize, was cheered as he lambasted the studios and praised the French festival for using an image of Sarandon in "Thelma and Louise" for its poster this year.

"Isn't it fascinating to see Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza? Shame on Hollywood, people who do that," the Scottish-born writer, who was arrested last year at a pro-Palestine protest, added.

"They're the best of us," said Laverty, who won best screenplay at Cannes for Ken Loach's "I, Daniel Blake" and "The Wind that Shakes the Barley".

"I just hope we don't get bombed now," he joked.

The leftwinger made an impassioned plea for filmmakers not to shy away from politics "when madmen lead the blind", quoting Shakespeare's "King Lear".

Laverty did not mention US leader Donald Trump, but his presidency and the war in Gaza have hung heavy over film festivals over the last few years.

South Korea director Park Chan-wook, who heads the jury awarding the Palme d'Or, the top prize at Cannes, also defended the place of politics in film.

"Art and politics are not concepts that are in conflict with each other. As long as they are artistically expressed, they are valuable," said the maker of "Oldboy" and "The Handmaiden".

With Meta, the owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, signing a multi-year sponsorship deal with Cannes, Laverty also warned about "the concentration of power" by Big Tech.

"We are beginning to realise that we should not let these tech bros billionaires, mostly right-wing libertarians, dictate how we live our lives," he added, with artificial intelligence another hot topic at the festival.

Hollywood star Demi Moore, who is also on the jury, said she was also sceptical of AI's place in the industry, though not against it.

"There is nothing to fear because one can never replace what true art comes from, because it comes from the soul," she told reporters.

"That, they can never recreate."

Y.Mori--JT