Open letter calling for the film industry “Silence” on Gaza signed by 380 people, including Pedro Almodóvar, Mark Ruffalo: “We are ashamed”
In an open letter signed by 380 people, the publication of which was timed for the first day of the 2025 Cannes Festival, entertainment lights around the world called that they said they were “silence” in the film industry on the situation in Gaza.
Posted in French on the website of the French Liberation Journal, the signatories of the letter include Pedro Almodóvar, Mark Ruffalo, the star of “Hacks” Hannah Einbinder, Javier Bardem, Guy Pearce, Brian Cox, Susan Sarandon, Ralph Feinnes and many others.
“Since the terrible massacres of October 7, 2023, no foreign journalist has been authorized to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army has targeted civilians. More than 200 journalists have been deliberately killed. Writers, filmmakers and artists are brutally murdered,” the letter began.
The letter then quoted Fatma Hassona, the subject of a documentary which will be presented in Cannes which was killed in April by an Israeli air strike which struck its house in Gaza. 10 people were killed with her.
The letter also noted the case of Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian filmmaker Oscar -winning which was beaten and held by the Israeli army shortly after the prices of the 2025 academy – and which essentially had to be ashamed to support itself publicly.
“We are ashamed of such passivity,” said the letter.
“The extreme right, fascism, colonialism, anti-trans and anti-lgbtqia +movements, sexist, racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic put their battle on the battlefield of ideas, attacking publication, cinema and universities, and that is why we have a duty to fight,” said the letter later. “Refuse to let our art be an accomplice of the worst.”
Read the complete letter and the list of people who have signed below:
Fatma Hassona was 25 years old.
It was an independent Palestinian photojournalist. She was targeted by the Israeli army on April 16, 2025, the day after her announcement that the film of Sepideh Farsi “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk”, in which she was the star, had been selected in the acid section of the Cannes Festival.
She was about to get married.
Ten of his relatives, including his pregnant sister, were killed by the same Israeli strike.
Since the terrible massacres of October 7, 2023, no foreign journalist has been authorized to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army targets civilians. More than 200 journalists were deliberately killed. Writers, filmmakers and artists are brutally murdered.
At the end of March, the Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, who won an Oscar for his film “No Other Land”, was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers and then kidnapped by the army, before being released under international pressure. The lack of support from the Oscar Academy for Hamdan Ballal aroused indignation among his own members and he had to apologize publicly for his inaction.
We are ashamed of such passivity.
Why does cinema, a reproductive ground for socially committed works, seems so indifferent to the horror of reality and oppression suffered by our sisters and our brothers?
As cultural artists and players, we cannot remain silent while the genocide takes place in Gaza and this unspeakable news hits our communities.
What is the interest of our professions if they do not learn from history, to make films that are committed, if we are not present to protect oppressed voices?
Why this silence?
The extreme right, fascism, colonialism, anti-trans and anti-lgbtqia +, sexist, racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic movements put their battle on the battlefield of ideas, attacking publishing, cinema and universities, and that is why we have the duty to fight.
Refuse to let our art be an accomplice of the worst.
Let us get up.
Name reality.
Let us collectively look at it with the precision of our sensitive hearts, so that it can no longer be reduced to silence and covered.
Let’s reject propaganda that constantly colonizes our imagination and makes us lose our sense of humanity.
For Fatma, for all those who die in indifference.
Cinema has the duty to carry their messages, to reflect our societies.
Act before it is too late.
Signatories;
Khalid Abdalla, Noée Lives, Hany Abu-Assad, Raphaël Agogué, Iyad Alasttal, Catia Albertazzi, Vlad Alexis, Taraneh Alidoosti, Wad al-Kateab, Yasmine Al, Massri, Pedro Almodóvar, India, India, Cristèle Alves Meira, Serdar Akar, Pedro. Amarteifio, Gianni Amelio, Carmine Amoroso, Elisa Amoruso, Romain André, Roberto etò, Geoff Arbourne, Francesca Archibugi, Tiziana Aristarco, Swann Arlaud, Olivier Azam, Gökçe Bahadir, Jeanne Balibar, Baloji, Avital Barka Bardem, Belma Baş, Dominique Baumard, Xavier Beauvois, Said Ben Saïd, Leïla Bekhti, Luca Bellino, Suzy Bemba, Adila Bendemeted, Kaouher Ben Hania, Dali Bendsalah, Fabrizio Verivoglio, Julia Bojanov, Bertrand Bonello, Agathe. Bonitzer, Amélie Bonnin, Bruno Bontzolakis, Lucie Borleteau, Sami Bouajila, Elodie Bouchez, Bastien Bouillon, Guillaume Brac, Rachida Brakni, Evelyne Brochu, Silvia Bruneli, Jean-Stéphane Bron, Celeste Brunque Calabre, Laure. Calamy, Mimmo Calopresti, Mehmet Can Mertoğlu, Eric Cantona, Stefania Casini, Antonio Maria Castaldo, Marco Castaldi, Sergio Castllitto, Beniamino Catena, Ebru Nuri Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lolita Chamba Cheikhrouha, Antoine Chevroollier, Simona Chiocca Christie, Hélier Cisterne, Isabel Coixet, Daniele Coluccini, Maddalena Crippa, David Cronenberg, Costa-Gavras, Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Costel Cunningham, Sinéad Cusack, Fatima Daas, Cherien Dabis, Beatrice Dai, Charles Dance, Ciro d’Emilio, Davis, Slimane Dazi, Yann Dete de Carpero, Maura Delpero, Maria de. Medeiros, Giuliana de Sio, Maria Teresa de Vito, Sylvain Desclous, Lukas Dhont, Juan Diego Botto, Alice Diop, Javad Djavarery, Julie Delpy, Xavier Dolan, Dimitri Doré, Lautitia Dosch, Joan Dos Reis, Mike Downey, Obe. Dupuis, Pierre-Nicolas Durand, Virginie Efira, Hannah Einbinder, Sayyid Elami, Ouidad Elma, Amir El-Masry, Mareike Engelhardt, Víctor Erice, Benedikt Erlingsson, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Roberto Faenza, Frédéric Farrucci, Sepideh, Nina. Faure, Elda Ferri, Margherita Ferri, Isabella Ferrari, Lisa Festa, Ralph Fiennes, Sophie Fiennes, Milena Fiore, Mahdi Fleifel, Michele Fornasero, Marine France, Blanche Gardin, Lena Garrel, Pablo Garcia, Jean-Raymm Canga, Matteo, Matteo Garrone, Alessandro Gassmann Genet, Xavier people, Paolo Genovese, Aurélia Georges, Richard Gere, Denis Gheerbrant, Adriano Giannini, Alex Gibney, Raphaël Girardot, Jonathan, Judith Godrèche, Breardot, Jonathan, Judith Godrene Zeno Graton, Marco Greco, José Luis Guerín, Guesmi, Vincent Guilbert, Alain Guiraudie, German Gutierrez, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal Herzi, Ted Hope, Vanessa Hope, Sandra Huller, Fiorella Infaslli, Mohamed Jabaly, Annemarie Jacir, Alma Jodorowsky, óskar Jónasson, Elisabeth Jonniaux, Valdimars Jóhannsson, Rachel Leah Jones, þorsteinn Jónson, Glady Kaleli, Asif Kapadia, Semhh Kaplanoğlu, Mathieu Kassovitz, Aki Kaurismäki, Jacques Kébadian, Erwan Kepoa Fale, Yannick Kirgoat, Sofian Khamas, Michel Khleifi, Shaka King, Klotz, Wilma Labate, Ariane Klotz, Nicolas Klotz, Wilma Labat Labed, Mourad Laffitte, Philippe, Laïk, Yórgos Lánthimos, Alexis Langlois, Nadav Lapid, Luc Leclerc du Sablon, Erwan Le Duc, Radouan Leflahi Loiret-Caille, Stefano Lorenzi Lojkine, Fabiomassimo Lozzi, Daniele Lucchetti, Silvia Luzi, Filippo Macelloni, Guslagie Malanda, David Mambuch, Simone Manetti, Andrea Manni, Miriam Margolyes, Narimane Mari, Vincent Maritette, Félix Maritaud, Laïla Marrakchi, Lucrecia Martel, Masi, Patricia, Patricia, Patricia, Mazuy, Simon McBurney, Mounia Meddour Mermoud, Nina Meurisse, Valerio Mieli, Emmanuelle Millet, Davide Minnellla, Avi Mograbi, Indya, Indya Moore, Mercedes Morán, Laura Morante, Gérard Mordillat, Viggo Mortensen, Anna Mouglalis Gabriele Muccino, Peter Mullan, Margherita Murolhe, Lino Muccino, Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser, Dalia Naus, Nadine Naous, Raphaël Neal, Enza Negroni, Susanna Nickiarelli, Cynthia Nixon, Bruno Nuytten, Andrea Occhininti Ozpetek, Palaciano Rosa, Hlynur Pálmason, Daphné Patakia, Paul Pascot, Raffaele Passerini, Guy Pearce, Elisabeth Perceval, Antonin Peretjatko, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Aurélia Petit, Ralitza Petrova, Just Philppot, Giuseppe Piccitioni, Poggine, Poggine, Pipothe, Giuseppe Piccioni, Poggine Pieggi ,, Philppo Laura Poitras, Claire Pommet (Apple), Frassou Prant, Frédérique Pressmann, Vimala Pons, Marco Simon Puccioni, Katell Quillévéré, Olivier, Olivier. Rabourdin, Michèle Ray-Gavras, Annick Rodolfi, Christophe Régin, Jérémie Renier, Yannick Renier, Rémy Rememberau, Michele Riondino, Yannick Rosset, Cecilia Roth, Mark Ruffalo, Rúnar Rúnarsson, Ira Sachs, Zaho de Sagazan, Céline Sallette, Claudio Santamaria, Susan Sarandon, Stefano Sardo, Stefania Sandrelli, Aloïse Sauvage, Greta Scarano, Angela Schanec, Pierre Schoelr, Niels Scheider, Vassili Schider, Alessandro Scippa, Amanda Seales, Tracey Seafel Shawkat, Mélanie Simon-Franza, Eyal Sivan, Paolo Sorrentino, Massimo Spano, Morgan Spector, Laetitia Spigarelli, Italo Spinelli, Juliette Smadja, Robyn Slovo, Roger Stahl, Gianlurse Tavarelli,
Natacha Thorn, Jean-Pierre Thorn, Ásdís Thorodsen, Léa Todorov, Maria Sole Tognazzi, Melita Toscan du Plantier, Claire Touzard, Justine Triet, Alessandro Trigona, Jasmine Trinca, Carice Van Houten, Anlela Varela, Giusepe Vasan, Sophie. Verbeeck, Giovanni Veroni
