More than 400 prominent voices from the international film community, including Riz Ahmed, Juliette Binoche, Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Guillermo del Toro, have signed an open letter condemning what they describe as a genocide unfolding in Gaza. The letter was published on the eve of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in Libération and Variety, serving as a stark call to action for the global cultural industry.
Originally signed by 370 artists—including Mark Ruffalo, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, Yorgos Lanthimos, Javier Bardem, Alfonso Cuarón, David Cronenberg, Mike Leigh, Viggo Mortensen, and Pedro Almodóvar—the letter now includes 59 new signatories, further amplifying the message.
The catalyst for the letter was the recent killing of Fatma Hassona, a 25-year-old Palestinian freelance photojournalist and the subject of Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, a documentary by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi that premiered at Cannes on Thursday. Hassona was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza just one day after her film was announced as part of the ACID parallel section at Cannes. Ten members of her family, including her pregnant sister, were also killed.
The letter highlights the dangers journalists and artists face in Gaza, stating that more than 200 journalists have been killed, and that “writers, filmmakers and artists are being brutally murdered.” It also draws attention to the case of Hamdan Ballal, the Oscar-winning Palestinian director of No Other Land, who was recently assaulted by Israeli settlers and detained by the Israeli army before being released under international pressure.
The signatories sharply criticized the film industry’s silence and the Oscar Academy’s failure to support Ballal, saying: “We are ashamed of such passivity.”
“As artists and cultural players, we cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza,” the letter reads. “What is the point of our professions if not to draw lessons from history, to make films that are committed, if we are not present to protect oppressed voices?”
It further decries what it calls a growing wave of repression and propaganda:
“The far right, fascism, colonialism, anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+, sexist, racist, Islamophobic and antisemitic movements are waging their battle on the battlefield of ideas… That’s why we have a duty to fight.”
The authors call on the film industry to stop being complicit through silence and to reclaim its moral responsibility:
“Let us rise up. Let us name reality… Let us reject the propaganda that colonises our imaginations and makes us lose our sense of humanity.”
As the Cannes Film Festival opens its doors, the letter challenges the industry to confront global injustice with the same passion it celebrates artistry—urging filmmakers, actors, producers, and institutions to use cinema as a force for accountability and human dignity.