Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem and 1,300 more members of the international film industry urged their colleagues to “end our complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza” in an open letter on Monday.
“We pledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies — that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” the group shared through Film Workers for Palestine.
Other signatories include Melissa Barrera, Ava DuVernay, Adam McKay, Ayo Edebiri, Gael García Bernal, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, Josh O’Connor, Riz Ahmed, Aimee Lou Wood, Miriam Margolyes, Asif Kapadia, Emma Seligman, Boots Riley, Susan Sarandon, Tilda Swinton and Yorgos Lanthimos.
“As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers and institutions, we recognize the power of cinema to shape perceptions. In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address complicity in that unrelenting horror,” they wrote. “The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and that Israel’s occupation and apartheid against Palestinians are unlawful. Standing for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore.
“So too, we must speak out now against the harm done to the Palestinian people,” the group of actors, directors, writers, editors and cinematographers continued. “We answer the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism and dehumanization, as well as to ‘do everything humanly possible’ to end complicity in their oppression.”
The open letter also noted that organizers were inspired by Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese’s 1987 Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, which resulted in more than 100 directors refusing to screen their films in apartheid South Africa.
“The film workers’ pledge signals a watershed moment in the film industry for Palestinian rights,” the group further shared on social media. “We reject silence in the face of genocide and apartheid. And we reject racism, bigotry, bullying and dehumanization.”
The Monday update also comes two weeks after more than 100 indie filmmakers condemned Mubi for taking a $100 million investment from Sequoia Capital, who the FWP has accused of “genocide profiteering” through one of its partners.
