IMDb (Internet Movie Database) has replaced “Israel” with “The Palestinian Territories” or “The Occupied Palestinian Territories” in some of its industry listings, according to an examination conducted by an Israeli news outlet.
The change appears in IMDbPro, the platform’s section for film industry professionals, where distribution territories are listed for individual titles.
Israeli film distributors also told the publication they were not aware of the change.
IMDb maintains information pages for films and TV series, while its industry section includes details about companies that hold distribution rights across different territories.
According to the Israeli news outlet, some listings for Israeli distributors that previously identified Israel as the distribution territory now refer to “The Palestinian Territories” or “The Occupied Palestinian Territories”. Other listings still use the word Israel, indicating that the change has not been applied consistently across the platform.
One example is the Spanish film “The Black Ball” (La Bola Negra), which screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. IMDbPro lists Israeli distributor New Cinemas as having acquired distribution rights for “The Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
Similar wording appears on listings for “Runner” and “Backrooms” which Red Cape distributes. The same terminology also appears in listings involving other Israeli distributors including Lev Films and United King.
Red Cape said that it was unaware of the listing and added that it planned to contact IMDb.
“We will contact them immediately to have it removed and corrected, as we categorically reject this representation of the films’ acquisition rights,” Red Cape said. “Our contracts are industry-standard and specify one word only – Israel.”
Lev Cinema also said that it does not enter the information displayed on IMDbPro.
“Lev does not enter the information that appears on IMDbPro. The information is entered by the film’s producers or its sales companies. As far as Lev Cinema is concerned, the rights acquired are distribution rights in Israel, in accordance with the distribution agreement signed with the rights holders,” the company said.
