The festival JIFF was to be arranged in Malmö at the end of November and has also received support from Malmö City and Region Skåne. However, the organizers have not managed to get either the commercial cinema owners or the ideologically driven Panora to host the film festival.
A few of them refer to security reasons. One is worried that something will happen, says one of the initiators, Ola Tedin, to SVT.
Neither the People's House at Nobeltorget accepted. The board declined due to security reasons, according to SVT.
I do not understand what kind of security threat it can be to show Jewish film, says Ola Tedin to SVT.
His colleague Sofia Nerbrand states that the police have offered to be outside the premises if any cinema would accept.
”Extremely vulnerable”.
The Jewish minority is celebrating its 250th anniversary in Sweden this year. Parisa Liljestrand, who as Minister of Culture has a special responsibility for the five national minorities, emphasizes that the government has just adopted a strategy to strengthen the Jewish minority and counter anti-Semitism. She describes the Jewish minority as ”extremely vulnerable”.
That one cannot find an opportunity for this Jewish festival to be able to operate in Malmö, I think is deplorable and provocative, that it is here we are in 2025 during a anniversary year – it is sad.
What can then be done for the cinema owners in Malmö to feel safer? Liljestrand emphasizes that the government has made ”a number of efforts” to increase security for Jewish organizations, institutions, and events.
It is of course also up to the police authorities and others to ensure that one can carry out different types of events without having to think about security risks, she says.
Outrageous
Would a canceled Palestinian film festival have been equally outrageous?
Of course, I think it is extremely important that all types of expressions should be able to occur in society, we must all contribute to an open dialogue climate, we should be able to talk about things that we are not always in agreement on.
