STORY: Veteran U.S. director Jim Jarmusch said on Sunday (August 30) he was concerned that one of the distributors of his latest film had taken money from a company with ties to the Israeli military.

However, Jarmusch, an independent filmmaker who made movies such as "Stranger Than Paradise," "Dead Man" and "Broken Flowers," said he considered all corporate cash to be "dirty."

Jarmusch is showing his latest film "Father Mother Sister Brother" at the Venice Film Festival, with Mubi, a boutique distribution company and streaming platform, due to promote the picture in many markets.

However, Mubi has courted controversy this year by accepting a $100 million investment from Sequoia Capital, which has also backed Israeli defense-tech start-ups -- ties that have come under close scrutiny because of Israel's war in Gaza.

Jarmusch said he had raised the issue with the firm and stressed that his dealings with the distributor pre-dated the Sequoia Capital deal, which was signed earlier this year.

"My relationship with Mubi started much before that, and they were fantastic to work with on this film. I was, of course, disappointed and quite disconcerted by this relationship," he added.

Jarmusch acknowledged the complexity of film financing for arthouse directors, such as himself, saying he had taken money from various sources over the years.

"I consider pretty much all corporate money is dirty money. If you start analyzing each of these film companies and their financing structures, you’ll find a lot of nasty dirt," he said.

"We could avoid it and not make films at all," he said, adding that the onus on responding to such controversies lay with the companies involved and not the filmmakers.

Responding to the initial outcry in June, Mubi said its investors, including Sequoia Capital, helped the company grow, but that their personal views did not reflect its own, arguing that it remained independent and founder-led.

A representative for Mubi declined to comment further at Venice.

Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has cast a shadow over the Venice festival.

Some 1,500 film industry figures signed an open letter last month urging the festival to take a robust stand over the Gaza war and promote Palestinian voices.

Festival director Alberto Barbera told Reuters that Venice welcomed open debate, but dismissed calls for Israeli filmmakers and actors to be barred from the 11-day event.

Jarmusch's latest picture is divided into three chapters, each exploring relationships between adult children and their distant parents in three different countries -- the United States, Ireland and France.

The film features Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. It is one of 21 movies competing for the top Golden Lion prize, which will be awarded on September 6.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: VENICE, ITALY (AUGUST 31, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. DIRECTOR JIM JARMUSCH ARRIVING FOR VENICE FILM FESTIVAL NEWS CONFERENCE WITH CAST MEMBERS OF "FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER"

2. AUDIENCE MEMBER FILMING WITH PHONE

3. JARMUSCH SITTING NEXT TO ACTOR CATE BLANCHETT

4. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) "FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER" DIRECTOR, JIM JARMUSCH, SAYING: (ASKED HOW HE FEELS ABOUT HIS FILM'S DISTRIBUTOR MUBI RECEIVING FUNDING FROM SEQUOIA CAPITAL WITH TIES TO ISRAEL, AND WHETHER HE HAS SPOKEN TO MUBI ABOUT IT)

"Yes I have spoken to movie about it and I have a very good relation with particularly with Jason Ropell (Mubi Chief Content Officer) at Mubi who called me immediately. he had not been aware when this this relationship was made. My relationship with Mubi was started much before that, and they were fantastic to work with on this film. I was, of course, disappointed and quite disconcerted by this relationship, and I think really, if you want to discuss it, you have to address Mubi about it. I'm not the spokesman. However, I was... Yes, I was concerned. I also have a distribution agreement with movie for certain territories, which I also had entered into before my knowledge of this."

7. AUDIENCE MEMBERS FILMING WITH PHONES

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) "FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER" DIRECTOR, JIM JARMUSCH, SAYING:

"I'm an independent filmmaker and I have taken money from various sources to to be able to realise my films. And I consider pretty much all corporate money is dirty money and if you start analysing each of these film companies and their financing structures, you're going to find a lot of nasty dirt. So it's all there. We could avoid it and not make films at all. But the films are what I choose to carry things I would like to say. So yes, I'm concerned, but I really--one thing I don't like is, and you have not done this, but putting the onus of the explanation of this on us, the artists. It's not us, it's Mubi you must address concerning this. And not just Mubi, but other companies as well."

9. JARMUSCH, BLANCHETT AND ACTOR MAYIM BIALIK AT NEWS COFERENCE

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, INDYA MOORE, SAYING:

"Since the genocide of Palestinians began (AUDIO OF APPLAUSE), there has been an incredible amount of creative warfare and resource warfare behind the scenes. And the issue, I think with the way that, like people are trying to figure out how do we work in a capacity that is ethical and is not enabling a system, a systematic pipeline that funds these kinds of things to happen to people. I think like the kind of due diligence that people are learning how to do is a developing process. I think that these are not questions that we've ever had to ask before, especially as independent artists, and we're all trying to figure out how to navigate those."

VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS (FILE) (MATCH FACTORY/MUBI - Broadcast: must courtesy Match Factory/MUBI editorial news use only, no commercial use, no archive, no resales. Digital: must courtesy Match Factory/MUBI, editorial news use only, no commercial use, no monetisation on social platforms, no archive, no resales.)

11. "FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER" TRAILER CLIP

VENICE, ITALY (AUGUST 31, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) "FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER" DIRECTOR, JIM JARMUSCH, SAYING:

"I've always loved the form of these kind of different chapters in films, which is certainly not new in literature and not new in cinema either. But this film was very, very carefully constructed to accumulate. So if you were to show one chapter without the others, I would be mortified because I worked very, very hard to with this structure."

13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, CATE BLANCHETT, SAYING:

"These blisteringly funny and wacky and weird, you know, universes that you create, that only you could create Jim. But there's a kind of soulfulness and like a sort of poetry to the way you make sense of things that's particular to you. And, you know, we're always trying to lock down and pin down meaning, whereas you allow all these strange interconnections to not necessarily make the ordinary kind of sense, which given the state of the world, I'm really grateful for, you know."

14. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, CHARLOTTE RAMPLING, SAYING:

"You all feel this I think with Jim's filming and his films that you have seen that you've loved, but there's no 'mode d'emploi' it's about the man himself who gives of himself and so therefore, they're all basically extremely loving films, as we all felt. And we've all actually been talking now this morning about it. And we Vicky (Krieps), Kate and I had her not have not seen the film. We're seeing it tonight. But I know from reading it and making this film what this film holds. And so if you feel what this film holds, it is I'm certainly in this these times that are very difficult, the world going through. These are love stories."

16. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

17. JARMUSCH SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE