A day before the Cannes Film Festival kicked off, several known actors like Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, David Cronenberg and Javier Bardem add their signatures to the 380+ signees of an Open Letter published in leading media channels which condemn the silence over the horrific incidents at Gaza.
The letter was addressed to Fatima Hassouna, a young photojournalist and artist, all but 25 years of age who lost her life in the ongoing violence. The Letter was headlined “In Cannes, the horror Gaza must not be silenced.” Losing her life to an Israeli air strike around April came moments after it was announced that a documentary exploring the Gaza conflicts through her eyes would be having a World premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, her relatives including her pregnant sister also lost their lives in the same raid.
The letter highlighted that “She was a Palestinian freelance photojournalist. She was targeted by the Israeli army on 16 April 2025, the day after it was announced that Sepideh Farsi’s film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, in which she was the star, had been selected in the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival.”
Other signatories who have come in support of the cause includes Pedro Almodovar, Leila Bekhti, Kaouther Ben Hania, Costa- Gravas, Julie Delpy, Alice Diop, Xavier Dolan, Nicole Garcia, Viggo Mortensen, Mark Ruffalo, Ira Sachs and many more.
With over 50000 civilians killed during the military action in Gaza, the letter was published right after Israeli- American hostage Edan Alexander was released, ahead of Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East which however does not include Israel.
The letter also highlights the effect of the violence on the film community where directors Hamdam Ballal and Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Szor were attacked and kidnapped. However they were released later on international pressure. Even then, the Oscar Academy stayed silent.
Thus the letter draws attention to, “As artists and cultural players, we cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza and this unspeakable news is hitting our communities hard. 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? Why this silence?”