AhlulBayt News Agency: Hundreds of film industry professionals have signed a new pledge vowing not to work with Israeli film institutions “implicated in Gaza genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
In a statement, they said they recognize the power of cinema to shape perceptions and pledged not to work with Israeli film institutions.
“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 pledge reads.
Examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.”
It commits signatories not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with what it considers complicit institutions – including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies.
The pledge, published by the group Film Workers for Palestine, had 1,200 signers as of Sunday night.
“We answer the call of Palestinian film-makers, 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 statement reads.
The pledge notes that there are “a few Israeli film entities that are not complicit” and advises following “guidelines set by Palestinian civil society”.
The pledge draws inspiration from the cultural boycott that contributed to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
Screenwriter David Farr, who is among the signatories, said in a statement: “As the descendant of Holocaust survivors, I am distressed and enraged by the actions of the Israeli regime, which has for decades enforced an apartheid system on the Palestinian people whose land they have taken, and which is now perpetuating genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza."
“In this context, I cannot support my work being published or performed in Israel. The cultural boycott was significant in South Africa. It will be significant this time and in my view should be supported by all artists of conscience.”
The campaign comes amid a growing number of entertainment industry initiatives to protest Israel’s aggression in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Earlier this summer, hundreds of actors and filmmakers signed an open letter condemning the film industry’s silence over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Last summer, more than 65 Palestinian filmmakers also signed a letter in which they accused Hollywood of “dehumanizing” Palestinians on screen over decades.
In that letter, the film-makers called on their international colleagues “to stand against working with production companies that are deeply complicit in dehumanizing Palestinians, or whitewashing and justifying Israel’s crimes against us”.
Last week, the Voice of Hind Rajab, a new film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year, received a 23-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the Venice film festival.
Israel has killed more than 64,500 Palestinians in a brutal aggression in Gaza since October 2023.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former war minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
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