Actors and directors pledge not to work with Israeli film groups "involved in genocide."

Hundreds of actors, directors, and others working in the film industry have signed a new pledge committing not to work with Israeli cinema institutions that they say are "complicit in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people." The pledge states: "As filmmakers, actors, and workers in the film industry and its institutions, we recognize the power of cinema in shaping concepts." "At this critical moment of the crisis, where many of our governments enable the occurrence and continuation of this massacre in Gaza, we must do our utmost to address complicity in this ongoing horror."

Among the signatories are filmmakers Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Asif Kapadia, Boots Riley, and Joshua Oppenheimer. The actors include Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed, Josh O'Connor, Cynthia Nixon, Julie Christie, Ilana Glazer, Rebecca Hall, Amy Lou Wood, and Debra Winger. By Sunday evening, 1,200 people had signed this pledge.

This pledge, published in The Guardian, claims to be inspired by the cultural boycott that contributed to ending the apartheid regime in South Africa.

The signatories commit to not screening films or appearing in, or working with what they consider complicit institutions, including festivals, cinemas, broadcasting bodies, and production companies. Examples of complicity include "whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government that perpetrates them, and we respond to the call of Palestinian filmmakers, who urged the global film industry to reject silence, racism, and dehumanization, and do everything in its power to end complicity in their oppression," as stated in the declaration.

This pledge was issued by the group "Cinema Workers for Palestine." Screenwriter David Farr, one of the signatories, stated: "As a descendant of Holocaust survivors, I feel sadness and anger towards the actions of the State of Israel, which has imposed an apartheid system on the Palestinian people whose land it has seized for decades, and which is now entrenching genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza."

He added, "In this context, I cannot support the distribution or screening of my work in Israel. The cultural boycott was impactful in South Africa. It will be impactful this time, and from my perspective, it should be supported by all artists with a conscience." The attached FAQ section of the pledge addresses how to identify complicit cinematic entities, stating: "Major Israeli film festivals (including but not limited to the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Haifa International Film Festival, Doc Aviv, and the Tel Aviv International Film Festival) continue their partnership with the Israeli government at a time when prominent experts describe what is happening as genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. It adds: "The vast majority of Israeli film production and distribution companies, sales agents, cinemas, and other cinematic institutions have never acknowledged the full rights internationally recognized for the Palestinian people."

The pledge mentions "some non-complicit Israeli cinematic entities" and advises following "the guidelines established by Palestinian civil society."

Industry workers clarify in the FAQ section that the pledge does not prevent them from working with individual Israelis.

The statement reads: "The call is directed at cinema workers to refuse to work with Israeli institutions complicit in Israel's human rights violations against the Palestinian people." "This refusal targets institutional complicity, not identity. There are also two million Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship, and Palestinian civil society has established sensitive guidelines for engaging with this community."

The pledge does not explicitly mention the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is the most prominent civil society effort defining what it considers complicity with Israel. However, it is one of the most notable announced cultural boycott efforts against Israel since the onset of the attack on Gaza, following nearly a year after more than 1,000 writers announced a similar pledge. These efforts recall the "Filmmakers United Against Apartheid" initiative, founded in 1978 by Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, and other prominent filmmakers who refused to screen their films in South Africa during the apartheid era.

In a statement responding to this pledge, the Israeli Producers Association said, "The signatories of this petition are targeting the wrong people."

They wrote in a statement sent to The Guardian: "For decades, we, the Israeli artists, storytellers, and creators, have been the main voices allowing the public to hear and see the complexities of the conflict, including Palestinian narratives and criticism of Israeli state policies