Alamo Drafthouse employees try to cancel showings of “Zionist Propaganda” film – World of Reel

Staff from NYC’s Alamo Drafthouse, with the help of outsider activist groups, are trying to cancel screenings of “September 5,” which depicts the massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists during the ’72 Munich Olympics.

These groups want to cancel all showings of “September 5” via a new one petition with around 1,000 signatures. The chain operates three theaters in New York City. What is the reason for their call to remove the film? They claim “September 5th” is “Zionist propaganda.”

The film is an ahistorical and dehumanizing dramatization of Operation Iqrit and Biram, carried out by the Black September Organization at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich in the name of freeing 200+ Palestinian prisoners. It’s told from the perspective of the ABC newsroom, with a laid-back group of sports journalists eager to cover the unfolding events, not hesitating to call the militants “terrorists” and “A rascals”.

They go on to call “September 5” an attempt by the Western media to “push its imperialist and racist agenda that produces consent for the continued genocide and cultural decimation of Palestine and its people.”

What is even more interesting is that the petition contains 101 signatures from NYC Alamo United. The staff has promoted the petition on Xand demands that their employer bend the knee. The NYC Alamo Union will present the petition to Alamo Drafthouse officials during its annual bargaining session in January.

“September 5,” though not Oscar contender THR’s Scott Feinberg claimed it to be, has received positive reviews and strong audience scores. Feinberg recently reported that the film, a – popular title that was screened in Venice and Telluride – had been rejected by Toronto (TIFF) to avoid controversy.

Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Leonie Benesch star in “September 5th,” the third feature from director Tim Fehlbaum (“The Colony” and “Hell”), a dramatic thriller about ABC Sports’ coverage of the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics in 1972, when Palestinian militants took Israeli athletes hostage. The story is told from the television companies’ perspective.

After watching the movie, there should be no controversy. I’m a little baffled by activists’ attempts to cancel it. The film is not even shot from the perspective of the terrorists or the athletes. The “Munich Massacre” has been well documented in the history books, not to mention in Steven Spielberg’s excellent “Munich”, which tackled the aftermath of the tragedy and asked moral questions about revenge.