“For All Those Who Die In Indifference”: Actors Sign Open Letter Ahead Of Cannes (image-instagram/fatma_hassona2)
Ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, hundreds of actors and filmmakers, including Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Barrera, and Mo Amer, signed a letter condemning Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. The letter was published in Libération and U.S. magazine Variety on the first day of the festival.
The letter began by addressing the 25-year-old Fatma Hassona, a Palestinian freelance journalist who was killed in an Israeli military strike just a day after a documentary featuring her story, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, was selected to premiere at a section of the festival.
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The letter, signed by the 396 film luminaries, read, “As artists and cultural players, we cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza. What is the point of our profession 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?” they questioned in the letter.
Palestinian photographer Fatma had spent her last 18 months in the besieged land documenting the Israeli genocide, which eventually took her life as well. In the week before her death, Fatma had been engaged in creating a photo diary for the non-profit Plan International. They had intended to publish her works without her name in order to protect her. After her death, Plan International published her works “proudly naming and crediting her.”
On April 16, Fatma, along with 10 other family members, lost their lives in a military airstrike.
“Let us reject the propaganda that constantly colonises our imaginations and makes us lose our sense of humanity. For Fatma, for all those who die in indifference,” the letter invoking the memory of Fatma read.
Just weeks earlier, in March, Palestinian Hamdan Ballal, who had won an Oscar for his film No Other Land, was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers and was later detained by the army. He was later released under political pressure. The incident had also pushed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to apologise for not adequately supporting him.
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“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,” letter read.
Iranian filmmaker Farsi, one among the signatories, called out the Cannes organisers to denounce Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. “There needs to be a real statement,” she said to Agence France-Presse, “saying ‘the festival isn’t political’ makes no sense.”
