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DUBAI: Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera spoke to magazine at the midway point of the famed Italian event and touched on the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza and related protests in Venice.

Thousands of anti-war protesters attended a march on Saturday, with Barbera telling Deadline the protesters did not wish to enter the festival grounds.

“They didn’t want to enter. I think around 30 people tried. I asked the organizers of the protest whether they wanted to send a delegation to the red carpet and they said they weren’t interested in doing that and that they didn’t want to interfere with the festival.”

When pushed by Deadline, whose journalist Andreas Wiseman said: “I thought they had said they wanted to march to the festival center,” Barbera countered with: “No, I don’t think so. I offered them a place on the carpet and they said no.”

Plans for the protest gained momentum after Venice4Palestine, an organization of Italian and international film professionals, issued an open letter last weekend calling on the festival to condemn the suffering caused by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

In Deadline’s interview, published on Sunday, Barbera said: “We made an initial statement and then at the pre-opening of the festival the president of the Biennale made a very strong statement against the war in Gaza. There was a priest alongside him who had been refused entry to Israel in recent weeks and who has been very supportive of Palestine.”

When asked if he would make a personal statement, Barbera said: “I would do but the Biennale doesn’t make political statements. That’s the reason I haven’t so far.”

When it comes to the roster of international films on the festival’s screening agenda, Barbera said: “There are very few Palestinian films each year, this year even less perhaps, because of the war. I saw only one film that could have had the profile of a Competition film. It wasn’t quite good enough for us, from my point of view, so we declined and I think the film will screen at another festival.”

DUBAI: Egyptian Palestinian actress May Calamawy has joined the cast of Netflix’s new series “Extraction” alongside Waleed Zuaiter, Ed Speleers, Omar Sy, Boyd Holbrook and Natalie Dormer.

From showrunner, writer, and executive producer Glen Mazzara, “Extraction” is set in the world of the 2020 action thriller movie franchise starring Chris Hemsworth.

The eight-episode first season follows a mercenary (Omar Sy) who attempts to rescue hostages in Libya.

According to Deadline, Calamawy will play Priscilla Ragab, an “intelligent and empathetic executive who remains calm while under pressure.”

Meanwhile, Zuaiter will play Hamza Najjar, a former soldier with a desire for justice, and Speleers will play Alford Griff, an engineer.

The 2020 action thriller was directed by Sam Hargrave and based on the graphic novel “Ciudad” by Ande Parks. Hemsworth starred as a black ops mercenary whose mission to save a kidnapped person in Dhaka, Bangladesh, goes wrong when he is double crossed.

Netflix has form for extending successful original movie franchises into TV series. The “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” film trilogy spawned the hit comedy series “XO, Kitty,” which was recently renewed for a third season.

Calamawy is known for her roles in US Netflix series “Ramy” and “Moon Knight” (2022), where she plays dual characters Layla El-Faouly and the Scarlet Scarab.

She made headlines in late 2024 when almost all her scenes were cut from Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II,” with fans taking to social media to complain.

Her casting in the film was first announced in May 2023.

At the time, Deadline reported that Scott had cast Calamawy after a lengthy search, writing: “While many of the leading roles were straight offers, Scott wanted to do a similar search he did for the (Paul) Mescal part for the role that Calamawy ultimately landed.”

But fans noticed that in the final cut, which hit cinemas in November, Calamawy is only seen in passing and she has no dialogue.