CANNES: Outspoken Spanish star Javier Bardem told AFP he was &quot;getting more work than ever&quot; despite his public campaigning against Israel&#39;s war in Gaza, something he attributed to &quot;the narrative changing&quot; around the conflict.&nbsp;At the last Oscars ceremony in February, the openly political star of &quot;No Country for Old Men&quot; used his time presenting the award for best international feature film to state: &quot;No to war and a free Palestine.&quot;&nbsp;Acclaimed actress Susan Sarandon, a fellow pro-Palestinian campaigner, as well as other lesser-known figures, have complained about their work drying up after their statements condemning Israel&#39;s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.&nbsp;&quot;I think it&#39;s important to be able to express your point of view, knowing that there will be people who agree and people who don&#39;t,&quot; Bardem told AFP at the Cannes Film Festival, where he is starring in &quot;The Beloved&quot; by Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen.&nbsp;Claims of &#39;blacklisting&#39;Scottish-born screenwriter Paul Laverty, a member of the Cannes jury this year, accused Hollywood of blacklisting film figures such as Sarandon, Bardem and Mark Ruffalo over their politics.&nbsp;&quot;It doesn&#39;t worry me because I&#39;m lucky enough to be able to work. I&#39;m lucky to be in a place where I can express myself, knowing that I have job offers. I imagine there are people who are more afraid they won&#39;t get called because of it, but that&#39;s not my case,&quot; Bardem, 57, said.&nbsp;&quot;In fact, it&#39;s the opposite, they&#39;re calling even more because the narrative is changing,&quot; said the Oscar winner. &quot;Now it&#39;s no longer as controlled by those who have always controlled it.&nbsp;&quot;Instead, we now understand that there are consequences when you support or justify a genocide like the one that is happening. And society knows that,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Bardem delivers a five-star performance of warmth and quiet menace in &quot;The Beloved,&quot; in which he plays a famous film director who returns to Spain after years in the United States to shoot a film with his estranged actress daughter (Victoria Luengo).&nbsp;The film, which premiered on Saturday, tackles Spain&#39;s former colonial occupation of Western Sahara, a territory that is disputed by Morocco and the pro-independence Sahrawis of the Polisario Front.&nbsp;It also sees Bardem explore issues around male domination and patriarchy.&nbsp;&quot;You have to be aware of what you, as a man, do and say ... and not take for granted that many of the things we were indoctrinated with have to remain in force. They were wrong,&quot; said Bardem, husband of Spanish star Penelope Cruz, with whom he has two children.

Film & TV

At the Cannes Film Festival, Bardem said that he is receiving more work despite publicly supporting Palestine and criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza; says public opinion around the conflict is shifting.

Spanish star Javier Bardem says 'narrative changing' on Gaza

RAFAH:&nbsp;Israel partially reopened the Rafah crossing between the devastated Gaza Strip and Egypt on Sunday following months of urging from humanitarian organizations, though access is limited to the movement of people. The reopening comes as violence continues despite a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, with Gaza&#39;s civil defense agency reporting dozens killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday. The Israeli military said it was &lsquo;retaliating&rsquo; against violations of the truce. The Rafah crossing is a vital gateway for both civilians and aid, but it had remained closed since Israeli forces seized control of it in May 2024 during its warn in Gaza, aside from a brief and limited reopening in early 2025. COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body coordinating Palestinian civilian affairs, said Sunday that the &quot;Rafah Crossing was opened today for the limited passage of residents only&quot;. An official at Gaza&#39;s health ministry, which operates under Hamas&rsquo;s authority, said that about 200 patients were waiting to be permitted to leave the territory once the crossing opened. Meanwhile, a group of &quot;around 40 Palestinians affiliated with the Palestinian Authority has arrived on the Egyptian side of the crossing to be allowed into Gaza and begin their work&quot;, a Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Israel had previously said it would not reopen the crossing until the body of Ran Gvili &ndash; the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza &ndash; was returned. His remains were recovered days ago and he was laid to rest in Israel on Wednesday, with COGAT announcing the reopening two days later. Entry and exit &quot;will be permitted in coordination with Egypt, following prior security clearance of individuals by Israel, and under the supervision of the European Union mission&quot;, it said at the time. COGAT on Sunday described the reopening as &quot;an initial pilot phase&quot;, coordinated with the EU, adding the parties were carrying out &quot;preliminary preparations aimed at increasing readiness for full operation of the crossing&quot;. &quot;The actual passage of residents in both directions will begin upon completion of these preparations,&quot; it added. A wider reopening is scheduled for Monday, three sources at the crossing said. However, no agreement has yet been reached on the number of Palestinians permitted to enter or exit, the sources added, noting that Egypt plans to admit &quot;all Palestinians whom Israel authorizes to leave&quot;. Anxious wait &quot;Every day that passes drains my life and worsens my condition,&quot; said Mohammed Shamiya, 33, who suffers from kidney disease and requires dialysis treatment abroad. &quot;I&#39;m waiting every moment for the opening of the Rafah land crossing.&quot; Safa al-Hawajri, who has received a scholarship to study overseas, was also eagerly anticipating the reopening. &quot;I&#39;m waiting in the hope of fulfilling my ambition, which is tied to the reopening of the crossing,&quot; said Hawajri, 18. &quot;I hope to be able to travel as soon as it opens.&quot; Located on Gaza&#39;s southern border with Egypt, Rafah is the only crossing into and out of the territory that does not pass through Israel. It lies in an area held by Israeli forces following their withdrawal behind the so-called &quot;Yellow Line&quot; under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10. Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza, while the rest remains under Hamas authority. The reopening is expected to facilitate the entry of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic body, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), established to oversee the day-to-day governance of the territory&#39;s 2.2 million residents. The committee, established under the ceasefire deal, will be supervised by the so-called &quot;Board of Peace&quot; chaired by US President Donald Trump. However, the NCAG, headed by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, is not expected to enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday, a member of the committee said. &quot;The head of the committee was informed that Israel had approved the entry of the members into Gaza but has not yet set a date,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;We call on the mediators and the US administration to accelerate operations at the crossing and increase the number of travelers.&quot;

Fuel and humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in northeastern Egypt on January 27, 2026, as the vital crossing to the Palestinian territory reopens. (AFP)

Middle East

Israel partially reopens Gaza’s Rafah crossing for limited movement of people. The crossing had been closed since May 2024, and full operations are expected to begin Monday.

Articles tagged with "Israel war on Gaza"

Spanish star Javier Bardem says 'narrative changing' on Gaza

Israel allows limited movement through Rafah crossing into Gaza