The Stockholm Film Festival has denied reports that it rejected the American-Israeli filmmaker, saying there was “a significant misunderstanding.”

Sweden’s Stockholm Film Festival has denied reports that it has rejected American-Israeli filmmaker and actress Aleeza Chanowitz as a personal guest at its current edition, which runs from November 8 to 19.

Chanowitz was officially invited to the festival at the beginning of the fall with her TV show Chanshiwhich will be shown as a special on Thursday (November 16).

She and broadcaster Hot released statements last weekend saying the invitation appeared to have been withdrawn in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas, after the hospitality department gave a number of reasons in emails why it would be better if they it would do. t come

The show was always scheduled to take place and Chanowitz and Hot did not indicate in any of their communications that it was canceled, but rumors circulated that the festival also pulled the show from the schedule.

“There was a misunderstanding regarding the invitation to the creators to attend the festival in person regarding travel,” said a statement from the Stockholm Film Festival.

“We had planned a visit for a long time, but when the conflict arose, we proposed a digital question-and-answer session for security reasons, which resulted in the flight booking being postponed. We believe there was a misunderstanding.”

The festival said information had been circulated that the screening of the show had been canceled and that Chanowitz was attending “due to political views”.

“This is completely untrue,” the report said. “The Stockholm International Film Festival always stands behind its films and filmmakers and will never refuse the visit of a participating director or cancel the screening of his works for political reasons. We are incredibly sorry for this poor communication, which caused pain for the team and the entire Jewish community.”

Chanowitz and Hot reported that the hotel department said in one of the emails that they “need to take a position”. It was not clear what was meant by “taking a position”.

The festival offered information about this.

“The phrase ‘had to take a stand’ is taken out of context and used in poor English. What the colleague referred to in the correspondence was the need for a decision – whether to travel or perhaps opt for a digital question-and-answer session.”

The festival has since sent two letters of apology to Chanowitz and reiterated that she would be happy if she attended the festival.

Before the statement in Stockholm, Chanowitz told Deadline it was unlikely she would make the trip.

An official statement issued after the festival’s first apology to her this morning said: “The festival’s excuse for not wanting me to attend has changed three times, which makes me feel like it’s against me, it’s not fair not.” I don’t think I will go because I don’t feel welcome anymore. I also wanted to buy a nice sweater – I’d rather buy one in Israel and support our economy.”