She organised the screening of an anti-Zionist film. Then Emerson College fired her

The longtime head of a film series at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, is suing the institution for firing her last year, citing her "legally guaranteed right to freedom of speech and expression" after she screened a film critical of Israel. 

Anna Feder, who worked at the famed arts institution for 17 years, told Middle East Eye that the Bright Lights Cinema Series, which she founded 12 years ago, had often shown boundary-pushing films, many of them made by former students.

"There were alumni making these really critical social justice films... No one ever told me that I couldn't show this. I couldn't show that," she said. "This was the first time internally I heard anything from anyone negative."

Emerson's student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon, called the festival a "pillar of the community in large part due to the work put in by Head of Film Exhibition and Festival Programming Anna Feder". The article said the festival "introduced three generations of Emerson students to hundreds of independent films, highlighting social issues and marginalized perspectives".

Read more: She organised the screening of an anti-Zionist film. Then Emerson College fired her