Hollywood and European cinema have found themselves at the epicenter of a heated debate over art, activism, and the ongoing war in Gaza, as more than 4,000 actors and filmmakers—including Oscar winners Javier Bardem, Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, and French star Juliette Binoche—publicly pledged to boycott Israel’s state-funded film industry. This unprecedented move, announced during a week of highly visible film festivals and awards ceremonies, has ignited passionate responses from both supporters and critics, and exposed deep rifts within the international film community.
The boycott, organized by the group Film Workers for Palestine, was launched in direct response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. According to LAist, the signatories are targeting Israeli film production and distribution companies, as well as film festivals, but are not calling for a ban on individual artists. The aim, organizers say, is to pressure the Israeli government to end its military campaign in the region. The movement echoes a historic letter from the 1980s, when Hollywood luminaries such as Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Susan Seidelman, and Martin Scorsese refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa.
The campaign gained global attention on September 15, 2025, when Javier Bardem walked the Emmy Awards red carpet donning a black and white Palestinian keffiyeh. Speaking with Variety, Bardem declared, "Here I am today denouncing the genocide in Gaza." He added, "I cannot work with somebody that's justify[ing] or support[ing] the genocide. I can't. The targets are those film companies and institutions that are complicit and are whitewashing or justifying the genocide of Israel and its apartheid regime."
Onstage during the Emmys, actress Hannah Einbinder used her acceptance speech for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy to shout, "Free Palestine!" Backstage, she explained to reporters that the boycott was intended to pressure the Israeli government to halt the war. "It's an issue that's very dear to my heart," Einbinder said. "I have friends in Gaza who are working as frontline workers, as doctors right now, to provide care for pregnant women and for school children, to create schools in the refugee camps. It is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel."
The boycott comes at a time of heightened scrutiny for Israel’s actions in Gaza. This week, a United Nations commission of inquiry concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a charge that Israel has categorically denied, dismissing the commission’s members as "Hamas proxies." The controversy has only deepened the sense of urgency among artists calling for action, even as it has drawn sharp criticism from other corners.
Major industry players have weighed in. Paramount Studios issued a statement on September 20, 2025, condemning the boycott: "Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace." Jewish leaders and organizations have also voiced their opposition, while Israeli film industry groups have described the boycott as "profoundly misguided."
Assaf Amir, head of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, expressed his concerns to LAist, stating, "We understand that the people are trying to somehow affect the war in Gaza. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to help stop the war. It might mute our voices. I mean, we have an industry that works and fights and makes critical films. Most of us are right now under a vicious attack, I would say, by the government."
This internal tension within Israel’s film community was thrown into sharp relief when the Israeli Academy awarded its prestigious Ophir Award this week to the anti-war drama The Sea. The film tells the story of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy living under occupation in the West Bank who risks his life to visit the beach in Tel Aviv. Produced by a Palestinian, directed by an Israeli, and featuring Palestinian-Israeli actors, The Sea was selected as Israel’s official entry for the upcoming Oscars’ international feature race. Amir described the film as "such a human, nice, beautiful, small story about a boy who wants to visit the sea, even though he can't because he's illegal in Israel; he has to go through the blockades."
However, the film’s depiction of Israeli soldiers drew the ire of Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports, Miki Zohar, who called it "disgraceful." Zohar threatened to pull all state funding from the Israeli Academy and announced plans to create a "State Israeli Oscars"—a move that filmmakers like Amir have called "absurd." Amir argued, "The fact that the minister doesn't like the results of our competition, he doesn't like the film and it doesn't fit his political agenda, doesn't make it right for him to just decide that he's going to take our money and create his own competition."
Some Israeli filmmakers worry that the government might actually welcome the Hollywood boycott as a pretext to further marginalize dissenting voices within Israel’s own creative community. Amir reflected, "I think Israel's government doesn't care what Hollywood celebrities have to say and might welcome a boycott as a way of punishing Israeli filmmakers."
The controversy has also reached European shores. At a press conference during the San Sebastian International Film Festival on September 20, 2025, French actress Juliette Binoche discussed her own support for the boycott. Binoche, who signed the open letter alongside Bardem, Phoenix, Stone, Colman, and others, emphasized the role of the arts in fostering dialogue. "I'm not sure the politicians are going to help and save us… I think arts can help finding ways of communication, [and] I believe in the spirit for connections and wanting to unite," she told reporters, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. "But it seems [we're] in such a dark place at the moment. I don't know what we can do as actors—some are going there on boats, trying to find solutions. I don't know about that, but I think we have to go into our creative side and believe in junctions of collaboration. That's what my film is about… How do we find areas where we can have a common language?"
Binoche’s comments came as she premiered her directorial debut, the documentary In-I In Motion, which explores her 2008 dance theater collaboration with Akram Khan. The film’s world premiere at San Sebastian was a moment of reflection on the power of art to transcend boundaries—an idea that feels especially urgent amid the current climate.
As the San Sebastian International Film Festival continues through September 27, the debate over the boycott and the role of artists in political discourse shows no sign of abating. Supporters insist that the pressure campaign is a moral imperative in the face of civilian suffering, while opponents argue that it risks silencing creative voices and undermining the very spirit of international collaboration that film festivals are meant to celebrate.
The coming weeks will reveal whether this cultural standoff leads to meaningful change—or only deeper divisions—within the global film industry.
