Ahead of Cannes festival, nearly 400 film luminaries urge end to atrocities in Gaza

ISTANBUL

Nearly 400 entertainers and film industry figures, including Oscar-winning actors and Palme d’Or recipients, have signed onto an open letter calling for an end to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, urging the international film community ahead of the annual Cannes festival to break its silence over the suffering and death.

"The signatories’ demand is clear – they are calling on their peers and the world to rise up and refuse to accept the death, destruction and devastation that has been unraveling before our very eyes in Gaza and to reject the propaganda that allows for the dehumanization of Palestinians and so many others," the signatories said in a statement on Tuesday, coinciding with the letter’s release.

The letter comes just ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, which also starts Tuesday, and highlights the killing of Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona by Israeli forces.

Hassona was reportedly killed one day after it was announced that a documentary about her life, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, had been selected for screening in a section of the festival spotlighting independent films.

Among the letter’s signatories are high-profile actors such as Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Viggo Mortensen, Richard Gere, and Cynthia Nixon and acclaimed director Pedro Almodovar.

The letter also received support from Cannes laureates and internationally renowned filmmakers and actors, including Justine Triet, Adele Exarchopoulos, Mike Leigh, Aki Kaurismaki, Lukas Dhont, Xavier Dolan, Costa-Gavras, Jonathan Glazer, Ruben Ostlund, Isabel Coixet, David Cronenberg, Julie Christie, and Fernando Meirelles.

The signatories condemned what they described as the dehumanization of Palestinians and demanded an end to what they called the "genocide" in Gaza.

The Israeli army resumed its assaults on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has since killed 2,780 people and injured nearly 7,700 others, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that began in January.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.