Isabel Arrate Fernandez , Artistic Director of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam ( IDFA ), has confirmed its decision to become the first major film event to officially exclude Israeli state-backed organizations and films and explained the process and thinking behind the move.

The festival has stoked debate with its rejection of accreditation requests from Israel ’s DocAviv Festival, CoPro – The Israeli Content Marketing Foundation and state broadcaster Kan for its upcoming edition, running from November 13 to 23, in a move first reported by Variety on Monday.

There are also no state-backed Israeli feature films or projects, anywhere in this year’s festival or its industry sidebars such as Docs for Sale and the Forum co-production market.

It marks a blow for ma

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