\n<\/p>\n
Hundreds of actors, directors and other film industry professionals have signed a new pledge vowing not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are \u201cimplicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs film-makers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions\u201d the pledge reads. \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Signatories include film-makers <\/strong>Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, <\/strong>Asif Kapadia, Boots Riley and Joshua Oppenheimer; and actors Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed, Josh O\u2019Connor, Cynthia Nixon, Julie Christie, Ilana Glazer, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Lou Wood and Debra Winger. The pledge had 1,200 signers as of Sunday night.<\/p>\n The pledge, shared exclusively with the Guardian, <\/strong>claims to draw inspiration from the cultural boycott that contributed to the end of apartheid in South Africa.<\/p>\n It commits signatories not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with what it considers complicit institutions \u2013 including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies. Examples of complicity include \u201cwhitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and\/or partnering with the government committing them\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe answer the call of Palestinian film-makers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism, and dehumanisation, as well as to \u2018do everything humanly possible\u2019 to end complicity in their oppression,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n <\/span>Ayo Edebiri is one of the signatories.<\/span> Photograph: Alessandra Benedetti\/Corbis\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The pledge was published by the group Film Workers for Palestine. <\/strong>Screenwriter David Farr, who is among the signatories, said in a statement: \u201cAs the descendant of Holocaust survivors, I am distressed and enraged by the actions of the Israeli state, 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n An FAQ accompanying the pledge addresses how to determine which film entities are implicated, and states: \u201cIsrael\u2019s major film festivals (including but not limited to Jerusalem film festival, Haifa international film festival, Docaviv and TLVFest) continue to partner with the Israeli government while it carries out what leading experts have defined as genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vast majority of Israeli film production and distribution companies, sales agents, cinemas and other film institutions have never endorsed the full, internationally recognised rights of the Palestinian people,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n The pledge notes that there are \u201ca few Israeli film entities that are not complicit\u201d and advises following \u201cguidelines set by Palestinian civil society\u201d.<\/p>\n The film industry workers also clarify in the FAQ that the pledge does not prohibit them from working with Israeli individuals.<\/p>\n \u201cThe call is for film workers to refuse to work with Israeli institutions that are complicit in Israel\u2019s human rights abuses against the Palestinian people,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cThis refusal takes aim at institutional complicity, not identity. There are also 2 million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, and Palestinian civil society has developed context sensitive guidelines for that community.\u201d<\/p>\n The pledge does not explicitly mention the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is the most prominent civil society effort identifying what it considers complicity with Israel. But it is one of the most prominent cultural boycott efforts announced against Israel since the assault on Gaza started, coming nearly one year after more than 1,000 writers announced a similar pledge.<\/p>\n <\/span>Yorgos Lanthimos.<\/span> Photograph: Mickael Chavet\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n The effort invokes Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, an initiative founded in 1987 by Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese and other prominent film-makers who refused to screen their films in <\/strong>apartheid-era <\/strong>South Africa.<\/p>\n In a statement responding to the pledge, the Israeli Producers Association said that \u201cthe signatories of this petition are targeting the wrong people\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cFor decades, we Israeli artists, storytellers, and creators have been the primary voices allowing audiences to hear and witness the complexity of the conflict, including Palestinian narratives and criticism of Israeli state policies. We work with Palestinian creators, telling our shared stories and promoting peace and an end to violence through thousands of films, TV series, and documentaries,\u201d they wrote in a statement sent to the Guardian.<\/p>\n \u201cThis call for boycott is profoundly misguided. By targeting us \u2013 the creators who give voice to diverse narratives and foster dialogue \u2013\u00a0these signatories are undermining their own cause and attempting to silence us. This shortsighted act seeks to eliminate precisely the collaborative efforts working toward ending violence and achieving peace. We will not allow this and will push back in our efforts to end violence and bring just peace to our region for the benefit of all,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n The new <\/strong>campaign comes amid a growing number of entertainment industry initiatives to protest Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. Earlier this summer, hundreds of actors and film-makers \u2013 including Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Ralph Fiennes and director Guillermo del Toro \u2013 signed an open letter condemning what they described as the film industry\u2019s silence over Israel\u2019s deadly military campaign in Gaza.<\/p>\n Many of the same figures who have signed the new pledge were also among the hundreds of Screen Actors Guild members who, last year, urged union leadership to protect members from being blacklisted over their views on Palestine. More recently, the Norwegian Actors\u2019 Equity Association recommended its members refuse to work with certain Israeli cultural institutions.<\/p>\n Last summer, Variety reported that more than 65 Palestinian film-makers also signed a letter in which they accused Hollywood of \u201cdehumanising\u201d Palestinians on screen over decades.<\/p>\n In that letter, the film-makers called on their international colleagues \u201cto stand against working with production companies that are deeply complicit in dehumanising Palestinians, or whitewashing and justifying Israel\u2019s crimes against us\u201d.<\/p>\n 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. Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer, Phoenix, Rooney Mara and Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n were among the executive producers on the film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hundreds of actors, directors and other film industry professionals have signed a new pledge vowing not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are \u201cimplicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people\u201d. \u201cAs film-makers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions\u201d the pledge reads. \u201cIn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[6141,8166,1171,1129,1860,12245,2313,1394,2225,514],"class_list":{"0":"post-19930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-actors","9":"tag-directors","10":"tag-film","11":"tag-genocide","12":"tag-groups","13":"tag-implicated","14":"tag-israeli","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-pledge","17":"tag-work"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}