By Eniola Amadu
Hundreds of actors, directors, and film industry professionals have signed a new pledge refusing to work with Israeli film institutions accused of being “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
The pledge, which had attracted about 1,200 signatures by Sunday night, was published by the advocacy group Film Workers for Palestine and shared with The Guardian.
It calls on international film workers to withdraw from festivals, cinemas, broadcasters, and production companies that maintain ties with the Israeli government.
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“As film-makers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions,” the statement read.
“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.”
Prominent signatories include directors Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Asif Kapadia, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Boots Riley. Actors who endorsed the pledge include Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed, Rebecca Hall, Cynthia Nixon, Julie Christie, Josh O’Connor, Ilana Glazer, Aimee Lou Wood, and Debra Winger.
The campaign draws inspiration from the cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa and explicitly targets institutions rather than individuals. Organisers explained that the refusal is aimed at ending “institutional complicity” and follows “guidelines set by Palestinian civil society.”
Screenwriter David Farr, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, said he joined the boycott out of conscience.
“I am distressed and enraged by the actions of the Israeli state, which has for decades enforced an apartheid system on the Palestinian people … In this context I cannot support my work being published or performed in Israel,” he said.
Earlier this year, high-profile actors and directors, including Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Ralph Fiennes, and Guillermo del Toro, signed an open letter condemning the industry’s silence on the conflict.
Just last week, The Voice of Hind Rajab– a film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces – received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Alfonso Cuarón served as executive producers.
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Organisers of the pledge argue that, just as cultural pressure played a decisive role in ending apartheid in South Africa, a similar stand could help dismantle what they describe as Israel’s “system of oppression” against Palestinians.
