{"id":135271,"date":"2025-09-11T13:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135271\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T13:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:16:09","slug":"joaquin-phoenix-nicola-coughlan-join-4000-film-workers-pledging-not-to-work-with-israeli-film-institutions-celebrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135271\/","title":{"rendered":"Joaquin Phoenix, Nicola Coughlan join 4,000 film workers pledging not to work with Israeli film institutions – Celebrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

More figures from the film and TV world, including Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy and Palme d\u2019Or winners, have pledged not to work with Israeli film institutions and companies implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people. The list of those who have signed the Film Workers for Palestine pledge<\/a> is extensive.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, 1,300 people<\/a> had signed the pledge, including filmmakers Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Adam McKay, Boots Riley, Emma Seligman, Joshua Oppenheimer and Mike Leigh, as well as actors Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Ayo Edebiri, Lily Gladstone, Hannah Einbinder, Peter Sarsgaard, Aimee Lou Wood, Paapa Essiedu, Gael Garcia Bernal, Riz Ahmed, Melissa Barrera, Cynthia Nixon, Tilda Swinton, Joe Alwyn and Josh O\u2019Connor, among many others.<\/p>\n

By Thursday, the letter surpassed 4,000 signatories, with notable additions such as Joaquin Phoenix, Nicola Coughlan, Andrew Garfield, Harris Dickinson, Bowen Yang, Rooney Mara, Guy Pearce, Jonathan Glazer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Fisher Stevens, Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, Elliot Page, Payal Kapadia, and Emma D\u2019Arcy.<\/p>\n

Phoenix and Mara recently became executive producers of the Venice-prizewinning Gaza film The Voice of Hind Rajab<\/a>. They walked the red carpet at the festival premiere sporting badges in support of Palestine.<\/p>\n

The pledge statement, published on Monday by the organisation Film Workers for Palestine, states that examples of complicity include \u201cwhitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and\/or partnering with the government committing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 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,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

According to the organisers, the mass declaration was inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, founded by Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese and 100 other prominent filmmakers in 1987 to demand that the US film industry refuse to distribute films in apartheid South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of Israeli film production and distribution companies, sales agents, cinemas and other film institutions have never endorsed the full, internationally-recognised rights of the Palestinian people,\u201d said Film Workers for Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have been witnessing in Gaza over the past two years shocks the conscience,\u201d said Einbinder. \u201cAs a Jewish American citizen whose tax dollars directly fund Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza, I feel we must do everything in our power to end the genocide. At this pivotal moment, given the failure of our leaders, artists have to step up and refuse complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, a similar pledge was signed by more than 7,000 authors<\/a> and book workers, including Sally Rooney and Viet Thanh Nguyen, boycotting \u201ccomplicit\u201d Israeli publishers.<\/p>\n

A statement issued by the Film Workers for Palestine group reads, \u201cAs filmmakers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It highlighted the ICJ\u2019s ruling that there is \u201ca plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and that Israel\u2019s occupation and apartheid against Palestinians are unlawful\u201d. \u201cStanding for equality, justice, and freedom for all people is a profound moral duty that none of us can ignore. So too, we must speak out now against the harm done to the Palestinian people,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe answer the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who have urged the international film industry to refuse silence, racism, and dehumanisation, as well as to \u2018do everything humanly possible\u2019 to end complicity in their oppression.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspired 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 \u2014 including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies \u2014 that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement explained that examples of complicity include whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and\/or partnering with the government committing them. It also highlighted Israel\u2019s major film festivals \u2014 including but not limited to Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv and TLVfest \u2014 that continue to partner with the Israeli government while it carries out what leading experts have defined as genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The pledge does not, however, bar people from working with Israelis, only Israeli institutions. \u201cThis refusal takes aim at institutional complicity, not identity. There are also two million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, and Palestinian civil society has developed context-sensitive guidelines for that community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pledge follows several other cultural boycotts of Israel and Israeli institutions.<\/p>\n

Over 300 British and Irish writers penned an open letter<\/a> denouncing the genocide in Gaza in May. The UK\u2019s Royal Ballet and Opera cancelled<\/a> a scheduled 2026 production run at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv after 182 members signed an open letter criticising the organisation\u2019s stance on Gaza.<\/p>\n

Last summer, more than 65 Palestinian filmmakers also signed a letter<\/a> in which they accused Hollywood of \u201cdehumanising\u201d Palestinians on screen over decades. In that letter, the film-makers called on their international colleagues \u201cto stand against working with production companies that are deeply complicit in dehumanising Palestinians, or whitewashing and justifying Israel\u2019s crimes against us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year, received a 23-minute standing ovation<\/a> at the Venice film festival. Brad Pitt, Glazer, and Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n were also executive producers on the film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More figures from the film and TV world, including Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy and Palme d\u2019Or winners, have pledged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-135271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}