Advocacy group Film Workers for Palestine said this morning that over 1000 high-profile industry professionals, including names like Ava DuVernay and Olivia Colman, have signed a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
The pledge was made public this morning with an open letter posted on Instagram. Film Workers for Palestine states that 1,200 filmmakers, actors, and film industry workers have signed the letter.
High-profile names listed by the group include Adam McKay, Asif Kapadia, Ava DuVernay, Ayo Edebiri, Boots Riley, Cynthia Nixon, Debra Winger, Emma Seligman, Gael García Bernal, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, Javier Bardem, Josh O’Connor, Joshua Oppenheimer, Lukas Dhont, Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Barrera, Morgan Spector, Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, Susan Sarandon, Tilda Swinton and Yorgos Lanthimos.
The group said the pledge was inspired by the 1987 Filmmakers United Against Apartheid movement, founded by Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese at the height of apartheid in South Africa.
“Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa, 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 letter read.
The organization said examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.”
The Guardian first reported on the pledge.
Read the full letter below.
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.
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.
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.
Inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa, 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.
* Examples of complicity include whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.
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