U.S.-Israeli actress Natalie Portman shared her thoughts on the momentous events in the Middle East on Monday in an on-stage conversation with Cannes Film Festival head Thierry Frémaux at his Lumière Festival in Lyon, France.
In answer to a question on where she was from, Portman replied: “Well, I’m from Jerusalem, I’m born in Jerusalem, so today is a very, very emotional day.”
Earlier in the day, 20 Israeli hostages returned home after more than two years of captivity in Gaza, which began when they were abducted during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel in which 1,200 people died and 251 were kidnapped.
At the same time, more than 1,900 Palestinian detainees and prisoners were released from Israeli jails. The exchange was the first step in a Gaza peace plan brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and his team aimed at ending the deadly two-year flare-up in the long-running conflict between Israel and Hamas, in which more than 67,000 Palestinians have died.
“To see the end of the war today and the release and the swap of the prisoners and the hostages is really a momentous day, and it feels almost crazy to be talking about anything else except celebrating, hopefully, peace,” said Portman.
The actress is a special guest of the classic film-focused Lumière Festival in Lyon this year.
Aside from Monday’s conversation, she will also give a masterclass on Tuesday, and the festival is also screening a selection of her films including James McTeigue’s V For Vendetta, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Pablo Larraín’s Jackie, as well as Heat, which is also playing as part of a Michael Mann tribute.
The festival also screened feature-length animated film Arco, which Portman produced with Sophie Mas under their joint Paris and New York banner MountainA and Félix de Givry at Paris-based Remembers.
Portman said Arco was reflective of the sort of more positive-themed projects she wanted to work on right now.
“I definitely feel the need to put positivity in the world right now … Arco … is [an] incredibly positive and timely film,” she said. “The next two films which I produced and acted in are also comedies, The Gallerist and Good Sex. I’m definitely leaning towards the light right now,” she said.
Earlier in the talk, Portman drew a cheer from the audience when she shared her thoughts on how women are often unfairly branded as difficult for simply expressing their needs.
“I’m a little bit careful with the word ‘easy’ versus ‘difficult’ because ‘difficult’ is a word that is particularly lodged against women,” she said when asked by Frémaux how she was to work with on set.
Portman reflected on the fact that at 44 she already has 30 years of acting work under her belt, but noted she had no plans of stopping just yet.
“I’m surprised that after 30 years I am still finding so much joy, so much curiosity. I think I thought when I was younger, I would have grown out of curiosity at some point,” she said.
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