More than 1,800 film industry figures, including major Hollywood actors, vowed to boycott Israeli cinema bodies they claimed were “implicated in genocide” in Gaza, in an open letter published Monday.

“We pledge not to screen films, appear at, or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters, and production companies — that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” read the letter, first published in The Guardian newspaper.

The signatories included British stars Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, Aimee Lou Wood, Josh O’Connor, Tilda Swinton and Joe Alwyn (the latter of whom had a supporting role in the recent post-Holocaust drama “The Brutalist”); American actors Mark Ruffalo, Emma Stone, Ayo Edebiri and Cynthia Nixon; Spanish actor Javier Bardem; Mexican filmmaker Gael García Bernal; and filmmakers Ken Loach, Yorgos Lanthimos, Adam McKay and Ava DuVernay (the latter’s film “Origin” compared Nazi rule to slavery and global caste systems.)

They join several progressive Jews who have long been vocal pro-Palestinian activists, including Ilana Glazer, Hannah Einbinder, Emma Seligman and Wallace Shawn.

The letter, organized by the group Film Workers for Palestine, said it was inspired by filmmakers who had refused to screen their work in apartheid South Africa.

The pledge is distinct from other previous arts and culture Israel boycotts in naming specific Israeli cultural institutions that the letter’s signatories are boycotting.........

© The Times of Israel