On Monday, in the lead-up to the annual Cannes Film Festival in France, nearly 400 international actors, directors, and producers released an open letter condemning Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The letter—published by French newspaper Libération and U.S. magazine Variety—begins with Fatma Hassona a 25-year-old Palestinian freelance photojournalist killed in an Israeli military strike on April 16, 2025, just a day after it was announced that Sepideh Farsi's film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, in which she stars, was selected to premiere at a section of the festival.
Just weeks earlier, in 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 letter details, noting that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was pushed to apologize for not adequately supporting him.
"We are ashamed of such passivity," asserted the signatories, including Pedro Almodóvar, Javier Bardem, Ralph and Sophie Fiennes, Richard Gere, Jonathan Glazer, Viggo Mortensen, Cynthia Nixon, Ruben Östlund, Guy Pearce, Laura Poitras, Mark Ruffalo, and Susan Sarandon.
"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."
"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?" they asked. "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."
In addition to condemning silence in the face of genocide, they argued that "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," the letter declares. "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."
Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi looks at a portrait of the late Palestinian photographer Fatima Hassona at her home in Paris, France on May 5, 2025. (Photo: Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images)Farsi—who also signed the letter—welcomed the impact of her film featuring Hassona but also called on Cannes organizers to denounce Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed over 52,900 Palestinians since October 2023 and left the enclave's more than 2 million survivors struggling to access essentials, due to an Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid.
"There needs to be a real statement," Farsi toldAgence France-Presse. "Saying 'the festival isn't political' makes no sense."
