Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon harshly criticized fellow countryman and filmmaker Nadav Lapid this week for "abusing" India's invitation to be the head jury at the country's 53rd International Film Festival.
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In an open letter to Lapid, Gilon said he should be ashamed for calling "The Kashmir Files" drama by director Vivek Agnihotri "propaganda" and "vulgar". The filmmaker also criticized the entry – a drama that focuses on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Muslim-majority Kashmir around the 1990s – saying the jury was "disturbed and shocked" by the film and deemed it "inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival."
Gilon blasted the remarks, saying it was "insensitive and presumptuous to speak about historic events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound in India," Gilon wrote on Twitter. "You will go back to Israel thinking that you are bold and 'made a statement,'" but we, the representatives of Israel, will stay here. You should see our inbox following your "bravery" and what implications it may have on the team under my responsibility.
Lapid's remarks also drew criticism from Indian officials, who said that while he was entitled to his opinion as head of the jury, saying the film was "propaganda" was "overstepping."
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