New York, MINA – More than 350 film industry figures, including Hollywood actors Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza in an open letter released ahead of the Cannes Film Festival.
“We cannot remain silent in the face of genocide in Gaza,” read the letter, published Monday in France’s Libération and the US magazine Variety, according to Quds News Network (QNN).
Signatories include renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar and former Cannes Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund. The letter also condemned the killing of Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who is the subject of a documentary set to premiere at Cannes on Thursday. The film, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, was directed by Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi.
Hassouna was killed along with 10 family members in an Israeli airstrike on their home in northern Gaza last month, just a day after the film’s inclusion in the ACID Cannes selection was announced.
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Farsi welcomed the impact her film is making but called on Cannes organizers to speak out against the ongoing bombings in Gaza. “A clear statement is needed,” she said. “Claiming the festival is non-political makes no sense.”
Festival jury president Juliette Binoche was initially reported to have signed the petition, but her spokesperson later clarified to AFP that she did not endorse it, and her name was not included in Libération’s published list.[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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