About 1,500 actors, directors and professionals in the field of cinema, including Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo, have announced that they will no longer collaborate with Israeli film institutions, which they accuse of “Involvement in genocide“From Gaza.
Actors and directors boycotes Israeli Filo Film Institutions: Video capture
“At this time of crisis, when many of our governments authorize the carnage in Gaza, we have to do everything in our power to respond to this complicity”, The signators of the letter said, including director Yorgos Lanthimos and actresses Ayo Edebriri and Tilda Swinton, according to The Guardian.
The action, initiated by the Workers for Palestine Film Group, is inspired by the cultural boycott of South Africa during the Apartheid, especially by the Filmmakers United Against Apartheid movement.
Festivals and companies targeted
The letter states that the concrete objective of the campaign is the cessation of collaboration with festivals, cinemas, TV stations and production companies that, according to the signatories, “The discloughing or justifying the genocide and apartheid are made guilty”.
Among other things are mentioned the Film Festival in Jerusalem and the Docaviv International Documentation Festival, which the authors of the letter say that “Continue to collaborate with the Israeli government”.
“The vast majority of Israeli production companies and distributeIt’s cinematographic, sales agents, cinemas and other film institutions have never fully recognized the recognized international rights of the Palestinian people in their integral”, The letter is shown.
However, the signatories stated that “However, there are some Israeli film entities that are not complicit”without nominating them.
“We respond to the call of the Palestinian filmmakers”
Supporters include Ava Duvernay, Riz Ahmed and Josh O’Connor. “We respond to the call of the Palestinian filmmakers, who urged the international cinematic industry to refuse silence, racism and dehumanization ”underlined in the text.
The organizers emphasize that the call concerns “Institutional complicity, not identity” and do not go against people of Israeli nationality.
Other similar calls
After the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and the Israeli offensive in Gaza, several groups of artists have launched public calls. At the end of August the Italian Venice4Palestine group asked the Venice Festival to “Adopt a clear and unambiguous position” Compared to the shares of Israel, the letter being signed by 2,000 people, including Guillermo del Toro and Ken Loach.
Previously, in Cannes, about 900 artists, including Juliette Binoche, Pedro Almodóvar, Joaquin Phoenix and Susan Sarandon, signed a petition by which they denounced “silence“On” “GENOCIDE“From Gaza.
The balance of the conflict
The attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in the south of Israel, resulted in 1,219 dead, most civilians, according to AFP, based on official Israeli data.
In response, the Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip caused the death of at least 64,368 people, according to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, under the authority of Hamas, but whose data are considered credible by the UN.
