Over 1,800 Film Artists, Including Hollywood A-Listers, Sign Boycott of Israeli Cinema Institutions
More than 1,800 film industry professionals, including several prominent Hollywood actors, announced Monday that they will boycott Israeli film institutions they accuse of being complicit in genocide and apartheid in Gaza. The pledge, published in The Guardian and organized by Film Workers for Palestine, focuses on institutions rather than individuals.
“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 stated.
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The signatories include actors Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, Mark Ruffalo, Emma Stone, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, and Emma Seligman, as well as filmmakers Ken Loach, Yorgos Lanthimos, Adam McKay, Ava DuVernay, and Gael García Bernal. Support also came from progressive Jewish artists such as Ilana Glazer, Hannah Einbinder, and Wallace Shawn.
The letter identifies specific targets for the boycott, including the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv, and TLVfest, which the group said have collaborated with the Israeli government. “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 letter read.
The campaign was inspired by filmmakers who refused to work with apartheid South Africa. It comes as other cultural and literary groups have also pressed for boycotts of Israel during the nearly two-year war in Gaza, citing a humanitarian crisis.
Israel rejects accusations of genocide, insisting its military seeks to limit civilian deaths while Hamas embeds fighters in densely populated areas.
