The Crisis of Art and Artists: MUBI’s Ethics on Trial Over Gaza
MUBI was once a source of national pride, a Turkish-born platform that opened a global window onto independent cinema. With its curatorial vision and its contribution to film culture, it earned a well-deserved respect. We took pride in offering a carefully curated cinematic vision that could stand alongside the best in the world.
But in June 2025, everything changed. MUBI’s acceptance of a $100 million investment from the Silicon Valley based venture capital firm Sequoia Capital was not merely a financial maneuver, it was a profound moral rupture. Marketed on the surface as a “growth opportunity,” the deal concealed a darkness directly connected to the ongoing human tragedy in Palestine. Sequoia’s portfolio includes companies developing AI-assisted targeting systems for the Israeli military and producing drone technologies deployed in the massacres in Gaza. Each innovation became a machine of death; extinguishing the life of a child, a mother, a family.
The backlash was swift. From across the globe, filmmakers and cultural institutions began severing ties with MUBI. Legendary directors such as Aki Kaurismäki, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Nina Menkes, as well as prominent Turkish filmmakers........
© Birgün
