In an open letter signed by 380 people, publication of which was timed for the first day of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, entertainment luminaries from around the world called out that they said is “silence” in the film industry over the situation in Gaza.
Published in French on the website of France’s Libération newspaper, the letter’s signatories include Pedro Almodóvar, Mark Ruffalo, “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder, Javier Bardem, Guy Pearce, Brian Cox, Susan Sarandon, Ralph Feinnes and many more.
“Since the terrible massacres of 7 October 2023, no foreign journalist has been authorised to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army is targeting civilians. More than 200 journalists have been deliberately killed. Writers, film-makers and artists are being brutally murdered,” the letter began.
The letter then cited Fatma Hassona, the subject of a documentary that will premiere at Cannes who was killed in April by an Israeli air strike that hit her home in Gaza. 10 people were killed along with her.
The letter also noted the case of Hamdan Ballal, the Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker who was beaten and detained by the Israeli military shortly after the 2025 Academy Awards — and who the Academy essentially had to be shamed into supporting publicly.
“We are ashamed of such passivity,” the letter said.
“The far right, fascism, colonialism, anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+, sexist, racist, islamophobic and antisemitic movements are waging their battle on the battlefield of ideas, attacking publishing, cinema and universities, and that’s why we have a duty to fight,” the letter later said. “Let’s refuse to let our art be an accomplice to the worst.”
Read the full letter and list of people who signed below:
Fatma Hassona was 25 years old.
She was a Palestinian freelance photojournalist. She was targeted by the Israeli army on 16 April 2025, the day after it was announced that Sepideh Farsi’s film “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,” in which she was the star, had been selected in the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival.
She was about to get married.
Ten of her relatives, including her pregnant sister, were killed by the same Israeli strike.
Since the terrible massacres of 7 October 2023, no foreign journalist has been authorised to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army is targeting civilians. More than 200 journalists have been deliberately killed. Writers, film-makers and artists are being brutally murdered.
At the end of March, 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 Oscar Academy’s lack of support for Hamdan Ballal sparked outrage among its own members and it had to publicly apologize for its inaction.
We are ashamed of such passivity.
Why is it that cinema, a breeding ground for socially committed works, seems to be so indifferent to the horror of reality and the oppression suffered by our sisters and brothers?
As artists and cultural players, we cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza and this unspeakable news is hitting our communities hard.
What is the point of our professions if not to draw lessons from history, to make films that are committed, if we are not present to protect oppressed voices?
Why this silence?
The far right, fascism, colonialism, anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+, sexist, racist, islamophobic and antisemitic movements are waging their battle on the battlefield of ideas, attacking publishing, cinema and universities, and that’s why we have a duty to fight.
Let’s refuse to let our art be an accomplice to the worst.
Let us rise up.
Let us name reality.
Let us collectively dare to look at it with the precision of our sensitive hearts, so that it can no longer be silenced and covered up.
Let us reject the propaganda that constantly colonizes our imaginations and makes us lose our sense of humanity.
For Fatma, for all those who die in indifference.
Cinema has a duty to carry their messages, to reflect our societies.
Let’s act before it’s too late.
Signatories;
Khalid Abdalla, Noée Abita, Hany Abu-Assad, Raphaëlle Agogué, Iyad Alasttal, Catia Albertazzi, Vlad Alexis, Taraneh Alidoosti, Waad Al-Kateab, Yasmine Al, Massri, Pedro Almodóvar, Pedro Alonso, Cristèle Alves Meira, Serdar Akar, India Amarteifio, Gianni Amelio, Carmine Amoroso, Elisa Amoruso, Romain André, Roberto Andò, Geoff Arbourne, Francesca Archibugi, Tiziana Aristarco, Swann Arlaud, Olivier Azam, Gökçe Bahadir, Jeanne Balibar, Baloji, Avital Barak, Carlos Bardem, Javier Bardem, Melissa Barrera, Belma Baş, Dominique Baumard, Xavier Beauvois, Saïd Ben Saïd, Leïla Bekhti, Luca Bellino, Suzy Bemba, Adila Bendimerad, Kaouther Ben Hania, Dali Benssalah, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Julie Bertuccelli Simone Bitton, Konstantin Bojanov, Bertrand Bonello, Agathe Bonitzer, Amélie Bonnin, Bruno Bontzolakis, Lucie Borleteau, Sami Bouajila, Elodie Bouchez, Bastien Bouillon, Guillaume Brac, Rachida Brakni, Evelyne Brochu, Silvia Brunelli, Jean-Stéphane Bron, Celeste Brunnquell, Gianfranco Cabiddu, Esmeralda Calabria, Laure Calamy, Mimmo Calopresti, Mehmet Can Mertoğlu, Eric Cantona, Stefania Casini, Antonio Maria Castaldo, Marco Castaldi, Sergio Castellitto, Beniamino Catena, Ebru Nuri Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lolita Chammah, Moïra Chappedelaine-Vautier, Amira Chebli, Nadim Cheikhrouha, Antoine Chevrollier, Simona Chiocca, Julie Christie, Hélier Cisterne, Isabel Coixet, Daniele Coluccini, Maddalena Crippa, David Cronenberg, Costa-Gavras, Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Costella, Pappi Corsicato, Brian Cox, Marcia Cross, Alfonso Cuarón, Liam Cunningham, Sinéad Cusack, Fatima Daas, Cherien Dabis, Béatrice Dalle, Charles Dance, Ciro D’Emilio, Arkin Mercan Dede, Mary Ellen Davis, Slimane Dazi, Yann Dedet, Matthieu de Laborde, Pierre Deladonchamps, Émilie Deleuze, Agnès de Sacy, Volfango De Biasi, Ciro De Caro, 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, Laetitia Dosch, Joana Dos Reis, Mike Downey, OBE., Sara Driver, Luana Duchemin, Sophie Dupuis, Pierre-Nicolas Durand, Virginie Efira, Hannah Einbinder, Sayyid El Alami, Ouidad Elma, Amir El-Masry, Mareike Engelhardt, Víctor Erice, Benedikt Erlingsson, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Roberto Faenza, Frédéric Farrucci, Sepideh Farsi, Nina Faure, Elda Ferri, Margherita Ferri, Isabella Ferrari, Lisa Festa, Ralph Fiennes, Sophie Fiennes, Milena Fiore, Mahdi Fleifel, Michele Fornasero, Marine Francen, Blanche Gardin, Lena Garrel, Carmen Garcia, Jean-Raymond Garcia, Nicole Garcia, Pablo Garcia Canga, Matteo Garrone, Alessandro Gassmann, Nadia Genet, Xavier Gens, Paolo Genovese, Aurélia Georges, Richard Gere, Denis Gheerbrant, Adriano Giannini, Alex Gibney, Raphaël Girardot, Jonathan Glazer, Judith Godrèche, Brice Gravelle, Emmanuel Gras, Zeno Graton, Marco Greco, José Luis Guerín, Diane Guerrero, Samir Guesmi, Vincent Guilbert, Alain Guiraudie, German Gutierrez, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, Grimur Hákonarson, Rebecca Hall, Arthur Harari, Misan Harriman, Lena Headey, Clotilde Hesme, Hafsia Herzi, Ted Hope, Vanessa Hope, Sandra Huller, Fiorella Infascelli, Mohamed Jabaly, Annemarie Jacir, Alma Jodorowsky, Óskar Jónasson, Elisabeth Jonniaux, Valdimar Jóhannsson, Rachel Leah Jones, Þorsteinn Jónsson, Gladys Joujou, Radu Jude, Ilker Kaleli, Asif Kapadia, Semih Kaplanoğlu, Mathieu Kassovitz, Aki Kaurismäki, Jacques Kébadian, Erwan Kepoa Falé, Yannick Kergoat, Sofian Khammes, Michel Khleifi, Shaka King, Héléna Klotz, Nicolas Klotz, Wilma Labate, Ariane Labed, Mourad Laffitte, Philippe Laïk, Yórgos Lánthimos, Alexis Langlois, Nadav Lapid, Luc Leclerc du Sablon, Erwan Le Duc, Radouan Leflahi, Mike Leigh, Blandine Lenoir, Philippe Lespinasse, Mica Levi, Luigi Lo Cascio, Elisabetta Lodoli, Florence Loiret-Caille, Stefano Lorenzi, Boris Lojkine, Fabiomassimo Lozzi, Daniele Lucchetti, Silvia Luzi, Filippo Macelloni, Guslagie Malanda, David Mambouch, Simone Manetti, Andrea Manni, Miriam Margolyes, Narimane Mari, Vincent Mariette, Félix Maritaud, Laïla Marrakchi, Lucrecia Martel, Mario Martone, Alessandra Masi, Valerio Mastandrea, Patricia Mazuy, Simon McBurney, Mounia Meddour, Sylvestre Meinzer, Fernando Meirelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Nina Menkes, Stéphane Mercurio, Christian Carmosino Mereu, Frédéric Mermoud, Nina Meurisse, Valerio Mieli, Emmanuelle Millet, Davide Minnella, Avi Mograbi, Indya Moore, Mercedes Morán, Laura Morante, Gérard Mordillat, Viggo Mortensen, Anna Mouglalis, Gabriele Muccino, Peter Mullan, Margherita Murolo, Lino Musella, Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser, Dalia Naous, Nadine Naous, Raphaël Neal, Enza Negroni, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Cynthia Nixon, Bruno Nuytten, Andrea Occhipinti,Michela Occhipinti, Joshua Oppenheimer, Luis Ortega, Ruben Östlund, Damien Ounouri, Ferzan Ozpetek, Rosa Palasciano, Hlynur Pálmason, Daphné Patakia, Paul Pascot, Raffaele Passerini, Guy Pearce, Elisabeth Perceval, Antonin Peretjatko, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Aurélia Petit, Ralitza Petrova, Just Philippot, Giuseppe Piccioni, Caroline Poggi, Laura Poitras, Claire Pommet (Pomme), Franssou Prenant, Frédérique Pressmann, Vimala Pons, Marco Simon Puccioni, Katell Quillévéré, Olivier Rabourdin, Michèle Ray-Gavras, Annick Redolfi, Christophe Régin, Jérémie Renier, Yannick Renier, Rémy Ricordeau, Michele Riondino, Yannick Rosset, Cecilia Roth, Mark Ruffalo, Rúnar Rúnarsson, Ira Sachs, Zaho de Sagazan, Ludivine Sagnier, Céline Sallette, Claudio Santamaria, Susan Sarandon, Stefano Sardo, Stefania Sandrelli, Aloïse Sauvage, Greta Scarano, Angela Schanelec, Pierre Schoeller, Niels Schneider, Vassili Schneider, Alessandro Scippa, Amanda Seales, Tracey Seaward, Sarah Seené, Guillaume Senez, Léonor Serraille, Alia Shawkat, Mélanie Simon-Franza, Eyal Sivan, Giancarlo Soldi, Paolo Sorrentino, Massimo Spano, Morgan Spector, Laetitia Spigarelli, Italo Spinelli, Juliette Smadja, Robyn Slovo, Roger Stahl, Teona Strugar Mitevska, Laurent Sylvestre, Gianluca Maria Tavarelli,
Natacha Thiéry, Jean-Pierre Thorn, Ásdís Thoroddsen, Léa Todorov, Maria Sole Tognazzi, Melita Toscan du Plantier, Claire Touzard, Justine Triet, Alessandro Trigona, Jasmine Trinca, Carice van Houten, Pamela Varela, Giuseppe Varlotta, Indira Varma, Anjana Vasan, Sophie Verbeeck, Giovanni Veronesi, Paolo Virzì, Cat Villiers, Jonathan Vinel, Nicolas Wadimoff, Harriet Walter, James Wilson, Lambert Wilson, Alex Winter, Benedict Wong, Jessica Woodworth, Arieh Worthalter, Maud Wyler, Mohanad Yaqubi, L. Rezan Yeşilbaş, Sofiane Zermani and Andrea Zuliani
The post Open Letter Calling Out Film Industry ‘Silence’ Over Gaza Signed by 380 People Including Pedro Almodóvar, Mark Ruffalo: ‘We Are Ashamed’ appeared first on TheWrap.