Once again, censorship strikes art and culture in Lebanon, where the new adaptation of Snow White – Tale of the Grimm brothers – is prohibited on the big screen. The children who were impatient to discover this new Disney pay the costs. This feature film was also prohibited in Kuwait. The reason? An Israeli actress in the casting.
Ninety years after the Disney pioneer cartoon, Snow white Returns on the big screen, in a new adaptation in real shots, in all the cinemas of the world, or almost. Lebanon and Kuwait have decided to purely and simply prohibit the adaptation of this timeless tale from the Grimm brothers intended for children and adults, from 7 to 77 years old.
As some amalgams have hard skin, on the sole reason for the casting of an Israeli actress – in this case, Gal Gadot – the film is prohibited. It does not seem to pass in a region still under turbulence.
In this new version, it is the American actress Rachel Zegler who plays Snow White and Gal Gadot the Mechant Marâtre. According to the magazine Varietythe 39 -year -old Israeli actress has been part of a boycotted artists in Lebanon for a long time because of her support for Israel, her country of origin.
A risk of “public order disorders”
In Lebanon, it was the Minister of the Interior, Ahmad Hajjar, who signed the ban on Monday, “following a recommendation from the film control committee under the general security”. The latter argues that the presence of the Israeli actress in the film could “lead to disturbances of public order”.
Lebanon had already, in February 2025, decided to ban the film Captain America: Brave New World On the same pretext (but there, the Israeli actress was called Shira Haas). Many boycott calls had also been launched by Lebanese civil and associative organizations.
Kuwait: no “cultural normalization with Israel”
On the side of Kuwait, daily life Al-qas reports that the decision to censor Disney’s film is part of the country’s position to oppose any “cultural normalization with Israel” and also occurs in response to calls from civil society organizations.
Citing the same reasons, the authorities of Kuwait also prohibited this year the broadcast of the last film in the saga Captain America: Brave New World.
Un flop au box-office
After a good launch in the United States and Europe (in mid-March), the new Disney received a mixed reception from criticism from around the world and quickly shortlisted, now recording disappointing results at the box office.
What is certain is that these decisions continue to raise questions about the place of politics in the world of entertainment. How much is cultural censorship to the end?
