“We cannot remain silent”. From Cannes, an open letter from 400 movie stars against the genocide in Gaza

The Cannes Film Festival kicks off today, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resonates with all its tragedy. Nearly four hundred actors, directors and producers from all over the world have signed an open letter condemning the silence of the world – and of the world of cinema – on the massacre taking place in Gaza. The letter – which can be read here – was published today by the French daily newspaper “Libération” and the American magazine “Variety”, the most important in the world in the sector. Among the signatories, Pedro Almodovar, Ruben Östlund, Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes, Yórgos Lánthimos, Susan Sarandon, Alfonso Cuarón, David Cronenberg. And also Jonathan Glazer , the British director of Jewish origins who won an Oscar for his drama set in Auschwitz “The Zone of Interest”. “We cannot remain silent, while a genocide is taking place in Gaza,” the letter reads. Which starts from the story of a documentary film , scheduled in Cannes. And from the terrible story that is linked to it. “Fatma Hassona was 25 years old,” the letter says. “She was a Palestinian freelance photojournalist. She was targeted by the Israeli army on April 16, 2025, the day after the announcement of the selection, in Cannes, of the film “ Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” by Sepideh Farsi, a film in which she was the protagonist. She was about to get married. Ten of her family members, including her pregnant sister, were killed in the same Israeli attack.” The documentary film “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” is scheduled in Cannes on Thursday, in the independent and parallel section Acid. The terrifying thing is that perhaps the very fact that the film was selected in Cannes could have caused the death of the journalist, just twenty-five years old. The open letter, published by “Libération”, continues: “Since the terrible massacres of October 7, 2023, no foreign journalist has been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army targets civilians. More than 200 journalists have been deliberately killed. Writers, filmmakers and artists are being brutally murdered. At the end of March , Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal, an Oscar winner for his film “No Other Land,” was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers and then kidnapped by the army, before being released thanks to international pressure. The lack of support from the Oscar Academy for Hamdan Ballal has aroused the indignation of its own members, and the Academy has had to publicly apologize for its lack of initiative.” The document continues: “What is the point of our professions, if not to draw lessons from History, what is the point of committed films if we are not present to protect oppressed voices? Why this silence? As artists and cultural workers, we cannot remain silent while a genocide is taking place in Gaza. The far right, fascism, colonialism, anti-trans and anti-Lgbtqia+ movements, sexists, racists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites are fighting on the battlefield of ideas, attacking publishing, cinema and universities. This is why we have a duty to fight. For Fatma, for all those who die in indifference”. The list of signatories also includes Mark Ruffalo, Viggo Mortensen, Javier Bardem, Leïla Bekhti, Costa-Gavras, Brian Cox, Radu Jude, Asif Kapadia, Aki Kaurismäki, Alex Gibney, Julie Delpy, Virginie Efira, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Judith Godrèche, Sandra Hüller and Laura Poitras. Among the Italians, Gianni Amelio, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Francesca Archibugi, Mimmo Calopresti, Sergio Castellitto, Saverio Costanzo, Pappi Corsicato, Maura Delpero, Roberto Faenza, Isabella Ferrari, Matteo Garrone, Alessandro Gassman, Paolo Genovese, Luigi Lo Cascio, Wilma Labate, the director in competition at Cannes Mario Martone, Laura Morante, Gabriele Muccino, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Andrea Occhipinti, Ferzan Ozpetek, Giuseppe Piccioni, Michele Riondino, Claudio Santamaria, Paolo Sorrentino, Stefania Sandrelli, Jasmine Trinca, Giovanni Veronesi, Maria Sole Tognazzi and others.

The president of the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Juliette Binoche, was said to have signed the petition, but her spokesperson denied this to Agence France Presse.

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