We are a group of citizens of Israel, urging you - in these atrocious times of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza - to cancel your participation, avoid competing and withdraw your films from the upcoming Jerusalem Film Festival.
We support the Palestinian Call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel, a non-violent method of struggle against the Israeli occupation and oppression called by hundreds of Palestinian civil society organizations, these days marking its 19th anniversary. Israel has only been able to continue and intensify its military occupation, settler-colonialism, apartheid, and now genocide, because it has faced little to no repercussions for doing so. It is time to heed what so many Palestinian activists and organizations have called for, hold Israel accountable and stop the bloodshed and unimaginable suffering.
You might not be aware that the festival you intend to participate or compete in is sponsored by the Jerusalem Development Authority, which is directly involved in intensifying settlement activities just where the Jerusalem Cinematheque resides, and so are other state and private institutions funding this event.
Furthermore, your participation in a government-sponsored festival, taking place in Jerusalem, will inevitably be perceived as an act of approval, sending a message of 'business as usual' to the massive settlement expansion, land theft and ethnic cleansing that this city is facing, as well as the harrowing death and destruction Israel is inflicting on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. We wish to believe that you will take this opportunity and make a concrete stand in favour of stopping the genocide of tens of thousands (at the least), the wide-spread injuries, disease, starvation as policy, the horrific destruction of all aspects of life in Gaza and to resist the underlying ongoing oppression Israel was able to remain unaccountable for since and around its establishment.
In particular we would like to appeal to director Matthias Glasner and actresses Patra Au Ga Man who are scheduled to attend the festival, all production companies and artists who applied their films for screening, as well as other participants in the international competition: Ray Yeung, Payal Kapadia, Guan Hu, Bruno Dumont, Thierry de Peretti, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Boris Lojkine, Emanuel Parvu, Hong Sangsoo and Agathe Riedinger. Don't join "guest of honor" Jennifer Jason Leigh who has been advancing Israeli propaganda as Israel heavily bombards and invades the Gaza strip.
Please do not cross the picket line of this struggle; do not participate in the construction of a facade of normalcy to daily atrocities which take place just minutes from the movie theatres you will attend, or your films will be shown in.
Sincerely,
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from within