Venice Film Festival: Susan Sarandon denounces professional pressure linked to her positions on Gaza

Present in Venice to defend the film The Echo Chamber in competition at the Mostra, she affirmed that the “narrative” around the war in Gaza and the United States’ support for Israel had “completely changed”.

“People are aware of a lot of things now,” observed the Thelma and Louise actress, particularly regarding the financial and military support provided by the United States to Israel. "I've had roles taken away from me again recently, because there are agencies telling people not to hire me. But that's the power structure," she added.

“I think there has been a change in terms of understanding of the situation in public opinion, but there are still very firmly anchored positions in my sector, defended by Zionists, who have not softened their feelings towards me,” said the 79-year-old actress. “But I found my family, I found mine, and everything is fine,” she stressed during a press conference to a round of applause.

The actress had already apologized

The actress, a Hollywood figure, is one of the most committed voices in the American film industry to criticize the war in Gaza alongside Mark Ruffalo, Richard Gere and Joaquin Phoenix. The war waged by Israel in Gaza has left 73,500 dead on the Palestinian side and 174,000 injured since October 2023 according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, placed under the authority of Hamas, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

It was triggered after the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian armed group Hamas against Israel, which left 1,221 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count. Susan Sarandon was let go by her agency United Talent Agency after she declared at a rally that American Jews were "getting a taste of what it's like to be Muslim in this country" due to the rise in anti-Semitic violence. She then apologized, explaining that she had made a "terrible mistake" in the choice of words because it suggested that "until today, Jews had not suffered persecution, which is quite the opposite."