More than 1,200 figures from the global film industry—including Academy Award winners Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, and Mark Ruffalo—have signed a pledge refusing to collaborate with Israeli film institutions or companies accused of complicity in alleged genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.
The initiative, published by Film Workers for Palestine, unites actors, directors, and film professionals under a common call to support Palestinian rights. Signatories include prominent filmmakers such as Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Adam McKay, Boots Riley, Joshua Oppenheimer, Mike Leigh, and Emma Seligman, alongside actors Gael García Bernal, Riz Ahmed, Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton, Lily Gladstone, Ayo Edebiri, Joe Alwyn, Josh O’Connor, Melissa Barrera, Cynthia Nixon, Hannah Einbinder, Peter Sarsgaard, Aimee Lou Wood, and Paapa Essiedu.
The pledge commits its signatories to reject what it describes as “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid” and to avoid partnerships with the Israeli government or institutions tied to it.
“As filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognize the power of cinema to shape perceptions,” the statement read.
“In this urgent moment of crisis, where many governments are enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to confront complicity in that unrelenting horror.”
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It further stressed the responsibility of the global film community to oppose racism, dehumanisation, and systemic oppression: “Standing for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore. We must speak out now against the harm done to the Palestinian people.”
This latest move mirrors a similar campaign in 2024, when more than 7,000 authors and publishing professionals pledged to boycott Israeli publishing houses deemed “complicit” in the oppression of Palestinians.
That initiative drew support from celebrated writers and award winners, including Nobel laureates and Booker, Pulitzer, and MacArthur Fellowship recipients such as Khaled Hosseini, Percival Everett, and Piper Kerman.
