On despair: A reflection after watching ‘Cancelled’

Last night I attended the Melbourne premiere of Cancelled, a documentary about the treatment of Jewish artists in Australia since October 7 and the Gaza War.

In a panel after the film, director Danny Ben Moshe and producer Jamie Bialkower spoke about the film’s rejection by public broadcasters and film festivals and their conviction that it results from an unwillingness to platform Jewish voices in the current climate.

The whole experience was traumatising.  I left feeling physical ill.              

That’s strange because there was nothing in the film I didn’t already know. As Editor of The Jewish Independent I’ve been confronting all of this for almost three years.  

The Jewish Independent was the first media outlet to break the story of the doxing of Jewish creatives. We’ve covered the exclusion of Jewish creatives extensively, including the  opening of Nina Sanadze’s Goldstone Gallery for cancelled artists and the abuse of Deborah Conway, key foci of the film.  No one reading TJI could doubt the existence of growing antisemitism, particularly in the creative sector.

Perhaps the impact was in the power of film as a medium or in seeing all the content together rather than being drip fed it over two years. Or maybe it was the bruise on bruise of hearing again the stories that already hurt.