PARK CITY, Utah — An anti-Israel march including boot-wearing “Scream” actress Melissa Barrera disrupted the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, snarling traffic as Hollywood elites attended movie premieres and parties nearby. caused.
Barrera, 33, who starred in “Scream VI” but was fired from the seventh “Scream” movie over controversial comments about the war, was unable to attend the festival after clogged the city's historic Main Street. Due to a delay in their departure, they took part in a protest that lasted several hours along the way. The route to and from the event.
Barrera was dropped from the horror film in November after posting on Instagram: “Gaza is now being treated like a concentration camp…this is genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
She stars in the new Sundance film “Your Monster.”
A group of about 100 “Let Gaza Live” demonstrators shouted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “We're tired of funding Israel! Shame on Israel!” while clutching signs that read “Butcher Biden,” “Deplatform Zionism,” and “Intifada Everywhere.”
One of the crowd's chants appeared to be in support of Hamas, which attacked an Israeli music festival on October 7. The attack killed 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and took hundreds more hostage.
“When people are occupied, resistance is justified,” the crowd shouted.
The event was sponsored by the Palestine Solidarity Association of Utah, which said in a statement: “People cannot ignore the massacre in Gaza and continue watching movies on their screens while bombs are being dropped.”
Most of the protesters appeared to be from outside the city, but some festival goers, including Barrera, joined the line or honked their car horns in solidarity.
Still, at least one passerby yelled, “Go home!”
The festival has clarified that it has nothing to do with the protests, saying: “While the organizers are not affiliated with the festival itself, the safety and security of festival goers is always a concern for us and we remain committed to it. “The statement added. Please cooperate with local law enforcement to maintain a welcoming, stimulating and safe environment for all participants. ”
The following online groups were formed on the first day of Sundance, where Hollywood gathers each January to premiere independent films. “Film workers for Palestine”
The website has hundreds of signatures, including from director Mike Leigh and actresses Susan Sarandon and Alia Shawkat.
Friday, the group tweeted. “Let me be clear: We are holding a film festival that is fully complicit in affirming consent to genocide. #Sundance takes money from Zionists. They amplify their opinions while remaining silent about Palestine.”
About a mile away at the Ray Theater, the protest coincided with an anti-Semitism exhibit titled “Sects, Lies, and Videotape: Debunking Deadly Tropes About Jews and Israel in Television, Movies, and Media.” A panel discussion was held.
