Woody happy to be in France
Woody Allen says he disagrees strongly with an ad from a US Jewish group warning Americans going to the Cannes Film Festival about anti-Semitism in France.
The ad placed in Hollywood trade papers last week by the American Jewish Congress does not call for a boycott of the festival, but the group says that those who do should speak out against anti-Semitism.
Allen is at the festival for the showing of his new film, Hollywood Ending.
"I don't believe in it," Allen said at a news conference, in response to a question. "I've never felt the French people were in any way anti-Semitic."
The ad, which appeared in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter on May 8, compares wartime anti-Semitic incidents to those reported recently, including the firebombing of synagogues, arson attacks, and the desecration of Torah scrolls.
The recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks in France has been linked by many to the escalating fighting in the Middle East, and has been blamed by Jewish groups on Muslim youths venting their anger.
Some American Jews have been canceling trips to France. However, Roger Cukierman, president of CRIF, an umbrella organization for secular French Jewish groups, was recently in New York and Washington to say a boycott would be "counterproductive."
A statement from Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, said, "It is unfortunate that Woody Allen, a leading member of the entertainment community, did not take the opportunity ... to make a single statement attacking the recent outbreak of anti-Semitism in France."
The director did comment on the French elections, in which extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen - widely seen as racist - qualified for a runoff against President Jacques Chirac.
"I think the French can be very proud of the way they responded in the last election," Allen said, calling the eventual defeat of Le Pen "a clear-cut response to the extreme right."
