Actors and directors pledge not to work with Israeli film groups 'implicated in genocide'
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 “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”.
“As film-makers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions” the pledge reads. “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.”
Signatories include film-makers Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Asif Kapadia, Boots Riley and Joshua Oppenheimer; and actors Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed, Josh O’Connor, Cynthia Nixon, Julie Christie, Ilana Glazer, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Lou Wood and Debra Winger. The pledge had 1,200 signers as of Sunday night.
The pledge, shared exclusively with the Guardian, claims to draw inspiration from the cultural boycott that contributed to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
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. Examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them”.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/08/film-pledge-israeli-institutions-palestinians