[News] Over 1,300 artists vow boycott of Israeli film institutions amid Gaza war

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 News <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/>|Israel-Palestine conflict
<https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-palestine-conflict/>
Over 1,300 artists vow boycott of Israeli film institutions amid Gaza war

*Ayo Edebiri, Mark Ruffalo, Riz Ahmed and Tilda Swinton are among more than
1,300 signatories to the pledge.*
[image: LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 14: Mark Ruffalo attends the UK Gala
Screening of Searchlight Pictures' 'Poor Things' at the Barbican Centre in
London, on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images
for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK)]
Mark Ruffalo is among the artists who decry the 'unrelenting horror' in
Gaza [Eamonn M McCormack/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures UK]

By Al Jazeera Staff
<https://www.aljazeera.com/author/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458>
Published On 8 Sep 2025
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More than 1,300 artists, including some Hollywood A-listers, have promised
not to work with Israeli film institutions complicit in abuses against
Palestinians as Israel intensifies
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/7/israel-intensifies-gaza-city-destruction-bombs-another-high-rise-tower>
its war on Gaza.

In a pledge released on Monday, the artists – who include Olivia Colman,
Ayo Edebiri, Mark Ruffalo, Riz Ahmed, Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem –
decried the “unrelenting horror” in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than
64,000 Palestinians and flattened most of the territory.

“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
statement read.

Examples of being complicit in Israeli rights violations include
“whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with
the government committing them”, it added.

The pledge cited International Court of Justice rulings that concluded a
genocide charge against Israel is plausible and found the Israeli occupation
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/19/world-court-says-israels-settlement-policies-breach-international-law>
of Palestinian territory is illegal.

Over the 23 months of the Gaza war, leading academics
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/3/why-have-leading-experts-declared-israels-war-on-gaza-a-genocide>,
rights groups and United Nations experts have accused Israel of committing
genocide against Palestinians.

Genocide – defined by the UN as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” – is one
of the gravest war crimes.

Palestinian rights advocates have long called for celebrities to use their
reach and status to bring awareness to the plight of Palestinians.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Lerner, one of the signatories to the
statement, said the pledge was a “non-violent tool” to undermine the
impunity that Israel enjoys for its conduct against Palestinians.

“It is the responsibility of every independently minded artist to use
whatever powers of expression they possess to support the global resistance
to overcome this horror,” Lerner said in a statement.

Hollywood has been historically pro-Israel, producing movies like the 1960
film Exodus, which valorised the founding of Israel, and regularly
inserting positive references to the country in blockbusters.

But in recent years, many actors and directors have spoken out against
Israel’s policies – sometimes to the detriment of their own careers.

For example, in 2023, actor Susan Sarandon
<https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2024/2/18/al-jazeera-speaks-to-susan-sarandon-as-she-lobbies-for-a-gaza-ceasefire>,
who signed Monday’s pledge, was dropped by her talent agency after
attending a Palestine solidarity rally.

After the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Melissa Barrera
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/7/hollywoods-israel-problem>,
who also joined the boycott call, lost her role in the horror franchise
Scream over social media posts critical of Israel.
[image: Olivia Colman]Olivia Colman is also among the artists who decry the
‘unrelenting horror’ in Gaza [File: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters]

Still, voices sympathetic to Palestinians continue to grow louder in the
film industry.

In March, No Other Land
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/3/israeli-palestinian-film-no-other-land-wins-oscar-for-best-documentary>,
an Israeli-Palestinian film focused on the ongoing destruction of the
Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, won the
Oscar for best documentary feature.

More recently, The Voice of Hind Rajab, which tells the story of a
five-year-old Palestinian girl who was trapped in a car with slain family
members before Israeli soldiers also killed her, received a 23-minute
standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/7/gaza-war-film-the-voice-of-hind-rajab-wins-2nd-prize-at-venice-festival>
.

The movie centres on Rajab’s heart-wrenching calls to rescuers while under
Israeli fire in Gaza City.

Monday’s pledge comes as Israel pushes to systematically destroy Gaza City
<https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/9/8/israel-wants-to-destroy-gaza-city-not-occupy>,
having already levelled most of the besieged enclave.

“As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we
recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions,” the statement said.

“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.”
Source: Al Jazeera
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