[News Terms] Controversy Over ‘Cultural Washing’ That Conceals the Horrors of War

Busan International Film Festival Invitation 'About Dogs and People'
Criticism for Ignoring Responsibility in Israel-Hamas War
GV Canceled Due to Cultural Artists' Picketing Protest

A recently premiered film at the 29th Busan International Film Festival has been embroiled in a ‘cultural washing’ controversy for allegedly concealing the horrors and truths of the war in the Middle East. The film is titled Of Dogs and Men. It centers on an Israeli girl searching for her lost dog amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The term ‘washing,’ meaning ‘laundering’ in English, is often combined with other words to criticize certain phenomena. Greenwashing refers to companies promoting their products as environmentally friendly while actually hiding the negative environmental impacts, exposing a form of disguised environmentalism.

Director Danny Rosenberg and actor Ori Avinoam having a Q&A session with the audience at the Busan International Film Festival on the 5th
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Additionally, Disney’s live-action film The Little Mermaid, which cast a Black actor in the lead role, faced backlash over ‘Blackwashing’ and was largely shunned by audiences. Blackwashing refers to casting Black actors in roles originally written as white characters to pursue racial diversity. This term contrasts with ‘Whitewashing,’ a practice in American films and dramas where white actors are preferentially cast.

Of Dogs and Men is the third feature film directed by Israeli filmmaker Danny Rosenberg. It was invited to the ‘World Cinema’ section of this year’s Busan International Film Festival. The film depicts the journey of 16-year-old Israeli girl Dar as she searches for her dog lost during a Hamas attack. Director Rosenberg stated, “To capture reality as it is, we filmed entirely on location in October last year, one month after Hamas attacked Israel, at a kibbutz near the Gaza border.”

A scene from the movie 'About Dogs and People'
[Photo by Busan International Film Festival website]

On its opening day, the 3rd, over 800 cultural and artistic figures gathered around the Busan Cinema Center, where the festival was held, to hold a picket protest and issued a statement demanding the film’s withdrawal. They criticized the film for ignoring responsibility for the Israel-Hamas war and for portraying the war’s horrors in a way that conceals the truth.

In their statement, they said, “At the one-year mark of the massacre, Of Dogs and Men, screened at the Busan International Film Festival, is a shameless propaganda film produced as part of cultural washing carried out by the Israeli government and industry with enormous capital and effort. By inviting this film, the Busan International Film Festival has chosen to remain silent on Israel’s collective massacre and to support the director’s sophistry.”

Palestinian solidarity civic group holding a rally condemning Israel. Not related to specific content of the article.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Immediately after the picketing, the festival announced the cancellation of the scheduled ‘Q&A with the Audience (GV)’ featuring director Rosenberg and the cast after the screening. On the 5th, before the second screening, a citizen held a solo protest in front of the theater, distributing the statement to entering viewers. During the post-screening GV attended by Rosenberg and lead actor Ori Avinoam, security guards guarded the stage to prepare for any unexpected incidents.

The film adopts a documentary style, incorporating real stories of actual people except for the narrative framework. It includes stories of both Israeli and Palestinian victims, but given the one-sided increase in Palestinian suffering, it seems difficult to avoid controversy. When it was invited to the ‘Orizzonti’ section of the 81st Venice International Film Festival held last August, a campaign opposing its screening by filmmakers also took place.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.