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Source: SIFF/Jore Fuembuena

Jennifer Lawrence at SIFF 25

US actress and producer Jennifer Lawrence was asked for her opinion on the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the fact that her upcoming film, Die My Love, directed by Lynne Ramsay, is being released by Mubi following the controversy linking the company with Sequoia, which also invests in an Israeli military tech company.

Talking today (September 26) at the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF), Lawrence did not address the Mubi topic directly but did explain her point of view in which she was very critical of US policy in unequivocal terms.

“What’s happening is no less than a genocide and is unacceptable,” said Lawrence. “Everybody needs to remember that when you ignore what is happening on one side of the world, it won’t be long until it’s on your side as well.

“I wish that there is something that I could say, that I could do to fix this extremely complex and disgraceful situation that breaks my heart but the reality, I fear, that speaking too much or answering too many of these questions is that my words will just be used to add more fire and rhetoric to something that is in the hands of our elected officials.

“I just want people to stay focused on who is responsible and the things that they can do, when they need to show up and vote. And not let the actors and the artists who are trying to express freedom of art, freedom of speech, take the heat for individuals who are actually responsible.”

Following up comments made earlier at the festival by Angelina Jolie, who expressed concern about the present state of US politics, Lawrence said, in the US, for “the kids that are voting right now, at 18, it’s going to be totally normal to them that politics has no integrity, that politicians lie.”

She added that she has concerns that freedom of expression is at risk in her home country: “Our freedom of speech is under attack.”

Lawrence is attending SSIFF to receive an honourary Donostia award and to attend a gala screening of Die, My Love, which explores the issue of post-partum depression. Lawrence said that as a mother of two children, she experienced “a very good postpartum” after the birth of her first child, but that after her second, “it was really hard”.

“It’s bizarre watching the movie now and seeing everything in retrospect, feeling that I have kind of been through that.”

Lawrence said she was inspired to produce and star in the film after receiving a phone call from Martin Scorsese, who had read the book that inspired the film, encouraging her to play the part of this young mother struggling in rural America.

Die, My Love producers Andrea Calderwood and Justine Ciarrochi joined Lawrence at the press conference. 

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