An open letter, organised by Elena Comay del Junco and Maya Shoukri

UPDATE 7/6: This morning Film Forum released a statement from its director Karen Cooper claiming never to have accepted funding from the Israeli government. We are glad that a major cultural institution feels compelled to distance itself strongly from Israeli apartheid. Unfortunately, however, Film Forum's statement is misleading. The response from the organizers of the open letter is below:

Dear Karen Cooper

Thank you for your prompt reply. While we appreciate the clarification, the use of Israeli government funds by by the film's distributor constitutes a clear violation of the call for cultural boycott, both in spirit and letter. As the full guidelines issued by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI -- linked below), note, "a public event/activity carried out under the sponsorship/aegis of or in affiliation with an official Israeli body or a complicit institution constitutes complicity and therefore is deserving of boycott." A distributor that accepts funds from the Israeli consulate is a perfect example of a complicit institution. The use of such funds to support the cast and crew's participation in Film Forum events is thus a clear instance of crossing the international "picket line."

We also note Film Forum's longstanding collaboration with the Jerusalem Cinematheque, including frequent use of funds provided or administered by that institution. While this was not the focus of the initial letter, the PACBI guidelines similarly note that, "As a general overriding rule, Israeli cultural institutions, unless proven otherwise, are complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation and denial of basic Palestinian rights, whether through their silence or actual involvement in justifying, whitewashing or otherwise deliberately diverting attention from Israel’s violations of international law and human rights." This characterization applies to the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

We are glad to hear that Film Forum itself has not directly solicited funding from the Israeli government. But we call on it to take a stronger stance against apartheid and to commit to abstaining from any future collaboration with partners funded by the Israeli state.

For the detailed PACBI guidelines, please see: https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/cultural-boycott-guidelines

Sincerely,

Elena Comay del Junco and Maya Shoukri

Dear Film Forum,

We are a diverse group of writers, artists, scholars, filmmakers and, above all, film lovers. We were disturbed and upset to learn that Film Forum recently accepted funding from the Israeli Consulate in order to fund the screening of “Asia” (2020). The Israeli government uses cultural funding in order to whitewash and distract from its program of apartheid and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. We call on Film Forum to ensure that this recent decision does not set a precedent, and to commit to not accepting funding from the Israeli government or associated institutions in the future.

To accept funding from the Israeli government is to accept complicity in the system of Israeli apartheid. That Israel is an apartheid state has long been a consensus in the Palestinian community and is now recognized by mainstream human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch as well as Israeli organizations like B’Tselem.

Since 2005, a broad spectrum of Palestinian civil society organizations have called for economic, cultural and academic boycotts of Israeli institutions. This includes not collaborating with Israeli cultural institutions as well as rejecting funding from the Israeli state and associated institutions. Film Forum’s website acknowledges the theater sits on the lands of the Lenape people and makes a commitment to “shedding light on the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and forced migration.” Such a commitment is meaningless without honoring calls from Palestinians for solidarity.

This would be enough to justify our call. However, at the time Film Forum began screening a film sponsored by the Israeli government, Israel had just killed over 200 Palestinians in Gaza, including 60 children. To call Israel’s attacks on Gaza a “war” is a grotesque misrepresentation: Gaza has been under siege and blockade since 2007, its population denied basic humanitarian supplies. It is justly termed the largest open air prison in the world. To accept funding from the Israeli state is to endorse this.

Right now, Israel is in the process of evicting over 1500 Palestinians from the Silwan neighbordhood in East Jerusalem in order to demolish their homes and replace them with a Biblically-themed amusement park, as part of its broader aim to ethnically cleanse the city of its indigenous Palestinian residents. To accept funding from the Israeli state is to accept

complicity in this, too.

Now more than ever, as Israeli actions against the Palestinian population across historic Palestine are attracting increased outrage in the United States, it is imperative for individuals and institutions here to reject complicity. Americans and American institutions are not disconnected from Israel’s actions. The United States government funds the Israeli occupation and persecution of Palestinian lands and people with almost 4 billion dollars a year in direct military aid.

Culture also plays a role in manufacturing consent for apartheid; the Israeli government recognizes this well and uses cultural diplomacy to its advantage. Art in general and film in particular is an arena in which International perceptions are shaped and reshaped. Last year, over 100 filmmakers and critics pledged not to take part in TLVFest, an Israeli-government funded LGBT+ film festival. In 2009, a group of filmmakers and actors called on the Toronto International Film Festival to cancel its decision to showcase Israeli films. In a letter signed by Ken Loach, David Byrne, and Jane Fonda, filmmaker John Greyson compared this to “celebrating Montgomery buses in 1963 … Chilean wines in 1973 … or South African fruit in 1991.” We wholeheartedly agree, and consider Film Forum’s decision to accept Israeli funding to be no different.

Film Forum is a unique institution in New York City. It is a place where many of us have received an education in classic film, and an institution that is dear to our hearts. So many of us during the last year of the pandemic were excited to return to screenings at Film Forum. The decision to accept this funding comes as a profound disappointment, and is a betrayal of Film Forum’s fundamental mission. We are saddened but resolute that if Film Forum does not rectify its complicity in occupation and apartheid, a boycott of screenings and participating in cultural collaborations may become necessary.

Film Forum describes itself as “a cinema of ideas… committed to presenting an international array of films that treat diverse social, political, historical and cultural realities.” The reality is that to allow Israel to whitewash its practices of apartheid and ethnic cleansing through cultural funding is to be complicit in these practices. In its mission statement, Film Forum also notes that it aims to “take risks on emerging filmmakers and challenging films.” It is now time to step up and meet the necessary challenge of standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their demands for justice.

Signed,

CLICK HERE TO SIGN

Anita Abbasi, writer/director
Dima Abisaab
Adam Abou-Heif
Ruanne Abou-Rahme
George Abraham
Nayrouz Abu Hatoum, Concordia University
Natalie Adler
Maryam Ahmed
Yagmur Akyurek
Hoor Al Qasimi, Director, Sharjah Art Foundation
Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
Nazeeh Alghazawneh, Filmmaker
Morehshin Allahyari, artist and educator
Brendan Allen
Anayvelyse Allen-Mossman
Ahmed Almaazmi
Carol Almeida, foradequadro.com
Yousef Naji Al-Mutairi
Stephen Altobelli
Joel Neville Anderson
Mehr Ansari
Ryah Aqel
May Arjomand
Shalu Arjomand
Queen Arsem-O’Malley
Ratik Asokan
Hadeel Assali, Columbia University PhD Candidate
Michalina Augusiak, Historian and Curator
Hicham Awad
Alia Ayman
Hallie Ayres
Negar Azimi
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Brown University
Neil Bahadur
Dicky Bahto
Marie Bardi, Producer
Eric Barroso, CineLimite
Angelica Jade Bastién
Andy Battle
Thomas Beard
Laura K. Becker
Colin Beckett
Gabriella Beckhurst
Lisa Behné Eie, artist
Christopher Jason Bell, Filmmaker
Emma Ben Ayoun
Jamine Benjamin
Meriem Bennani
Mathilda Bennett-Greene
Michael Berdan
Alixandria Berg
Jess Bergman
Claire Berkowitz, MSW
Jacob A. Berkowitz
Mischa Berlin
Omar Berrada, writer and curator
b.h. Yael
Irene Bindi, Editor at ARP Books, Artist
Hannah Black, artist and writer
Niko Block
Bob Boddingham, film archivist
Luciana Bolivar, Filmmaker
Beth Bramich
Zed Brecherman
Matt Brim
Gavin Briscoe, Magnolia Pictures
Madison Brookshire
Annabel Bruno
Bingham Bryant, former Film Forum staff
Dora Budor
Harry Burke
Dave Burnham
William M. Burton
Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun, filmmaker
Maya Cade
Ashwin Caffery
Alejandro Calcaño Bertorelli
May Calil
Helen Carey
Matthew Carlson
Georgie Carr, University of Sussex
Graham L. Carter
Lluis Alexandre Casanovas Blanco, Princeton University
Sam Cate-Gumpert
Daniel Chalfen
Andrew Chan
Phoebe Chen
Durga Chew-Bose
Ethan Chiel
Diya Chordia
Nadia Christidi, PhD candidate, MIT
Beatrix Chu
Eva Cilman
Stella Cilman
Dylan Cloud
Iris Cohen, Production Manager
Steven David Cohen, Yale PhD Student
Phil Coldiron
K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone
Rebecca Comay
Elena Comay del Junco
Katherine Connell
Daniel Cooper
Eli Coplan
Corina Copp
Lily Corne Klein
Cathy Lee Crane, Filmmaker
Olivia Crough
Marcus Cuffie, Film Enthusiast
Mia Curran
Heather Davis, Assistant Professor of Culture and Media, The New School
Rachel Day
Maria Eduarda de Sousa
Aria Dean
Marina Defranco Ford
Edem Dela-Seshie, Writer/Producer
Sarah Delgadillo Rabah
Hanan Delić
Monica Delgado, Desistfilm.com
Evan Dent
Devan Diaz, Writer
Óscar Moisés Díaz, Poet, Independent Film Curator, Tierra Narrative
Eli Diner
Isha Dipika Walia
Yashaswi Dixit, Filmmaker
Ted Dodson, Writer and Editor
Courtney Duckworth
Flora Dunster
Ben Eckersley
Eric Eidelstein
Tania El Khoury
Bilge Emir
Irmgard Emmelhainz
Matthew Eng
Berfu Erdogan
Christy Escobar
Harry Eskin, Moving Image Archivist
Kareem Estefan
Jason Evans, This Long Century
Reem Fadda, curator
Hazem Fahmy, Film Critic
Fadl Fakhouri, Columbia University Visual Arts MFA Candidate
Summer Farah, Radius of Arab American Writers
Marwa Farag
Kiki Febriyanti, Film Director
Hannah Feldman
Renée Feltz
Clark Filio, artist/producer
Katie Finnegan
Anthea Fisher
Emily Fitzell
Jared Fitzsimons
Pierre Folliet
OK Fox
Erin Freedman
Sarah Friedland, Filmmaker
Caroline Fulford
Nathan Fuller
Richard Fung, OCAD University Professor Emeritus
Miakoda Gale
Meg Galeucia
Cindy Gao
Natasha Garbawi
Gabrielle Garcia
Ellis Garey
Saru Garg
Kyle M Garner
Daniel Genoves-Sylvan
Rami George
Tavi Gevinson
Tamar Ghabin
Anila Gill
Devika Girish
Nicholas Glastonbury, PhD Student, CUNY Graduate Center
Braeden Glickman
Marko Gluhaich
Annie Godfrey Larmon
Kyle Goen
Ariel Goldberg
Marcs Goldberg
Peter Goldberg
Nan Goldin, artist
Leo Goldsmith, Teacher, Writer
Yoni Golijov, Documentary Producer (Risk, 2016)
Caroline Golum, Spectacle
Miriam Gordis
Sylvia Gorelick
Akiva Gottlieb
Micah Gottlieb
Jack Gross
Sanja Grozdanic
Aurelia Guo
Samantha Hadara
Sarah Hagi, Critic
Ryan Halpain
Dee Hamid
Diana Hamilton
A.S. Hamrah, film critic, The Baffler
Maya Harakawa
Shuruq Harb, Artist, filmmaker and writer
Vanessa Hardy
Patrick Harrison
Tobi Haslett
Brian Haver
Kaleem Hawa
Ziyad Hawwas, Film Editor
Edwina Hay
Mostafa Heddaya
Louis Henderson
Joseph Henry
Deborah Herron
Kate Hinshaw
Jillian Hirsch
Rissa Hochberger
Jack Hogan
Lizzie Homersham
Livia Huang
Jim Hubbard
Sam Huber
Amin Husain
Cindy Hwang
Jordan Michael Iannucci
Sherif Ahmed Ibrahim, Columbia University
Andrew Infante
Sanjana M. Iyer, Wendy’s Subway
Trevor Izzo
Jeiran J, Columbia University
Anisa Jackson
Grace Blue Jackson, Sarah Lawrence College
Deenah Jacques
Ali Jaffery, Filmmaker and Programmer
Disha Karnad Jani, Princeton University
Derek Jenkins
Erin Johnson
Matthew Johnston, PhD Candidate, Columbia University
Julia Judge
Lea Jungmann
Köken K.
Fawz Kabra
Eman Kadura
Stanya Kahn, Filmmaker and Artist
Nevin Kallepalli, Writer
Ernst Karel, Harvard University
Brett Kashmere
Adam Katzman
Tenaya Kelleher
Colleen Kelsey
Liam Kenny
Erich Kessel Jr
Will Keyes
Naqqash Khalid, Director
Samaa Khullar
Ayqa Khan
Katie Kirkland
Elias Kleinbock, Princeton University
Dana Kopel
Shiv Kotecha
Alexander Kouhi
Nicholas Kouhi, Programmer and Critic
Jennifer Krasinski
Noah Kulwin, writer
Carin Kuoni
Jessica Kwok
Daniel Laabs
Emily LaBarge
Guanglin Lai
Andrew Lampert
Michael Landes
William Latta
Josh Lawson
Jessica Leach
Oni Lem
Dominic Leppla, film scholar
Jerry Li
Aaron Linskey, Film Daze
Jenny Loeffler
Miguel Lopez, Clown/Director
Jordan Lord, filmmaker and artist
Antonia Loreno, MFA Candidate-UCSC
RH Lossin
Kevin Lozano
L u m i a
Joseph Lubitz, arts union member, independent curator
Julian Lucas
Daniel Lupo
Sumayya M.
Kevin Macauley
Steve Macfarlane, Spectacle
Ryanne Madrid Ello, writer
Eugene Magnani
Tiffany Malakooti, Bidoun
Claudia Mallea
Lameesa Mallic
Jumana Manna, Filmmaker
Mary Manning
Clare Mao
Ramzi Maqdisi, actor and filmmaker
JR Martin
Bill Martin, translator
Hana Masaarane
Ferial Massoud
Mila Matveeva
Alex Matzke
D W Mault
Jake May
Jolie Maya-Altshuler
So Mayer
Mike Mazzotta, The Basement Labs
Blair McClendon, editor and writer
Ross McDonell
Mary McDonough
Katy McQuillan
Christopher Mello, writer
Ara H. Merjian, NYU
Nicole Meyer
Lake Micah
Chaya Michla
Dave Miller
Jason Miller, Former Film Forum Member
Paul Mirek
K. Bellamy Mitchell
Haley Mlotek
Jessica Marion Modi
Juan Molina
Stephanie Monohan, Spectacle
Vicente Monroy
Joseph C. Montgomery
Sheehan Moore
Luke Moses
P.E. Moskowitz, writer/journalist
Aleisa Moussa
Charlie Muller
Yuka Murakami
Medina Musa
Lina Najem
Perwana Nazif
Max Nelson
Jeannie Nguyen
Minh Nguyen
Tony Nguyen
Tausif Noor
Ruun Nuur, No Evil Eye Cinema
Chrystel Oloukoi
Kamelya Omayma Youssef, Poet
Chris Osborn
Ryan O’Toole
Aron Ouzilevski
Laura Owens
Maru Pabón, Graduate Student
Marine Pariente
Joohee Park
Cecilia Pascual
Ciara Patten
Stefan Pavlovic, Filmmaker
Semaj Peltier
Daniel Perlmutter
Gloria Imseih Petrelli
Andreas Petrossiants, independent scholar
Eric Phipps
Stephen Piccarella
Michael Piantini
Carlos Pinon
Maria Prado
Yasmina Price
Laila Qaddumi
Noor Qasim
Lucas Quigley
Ikaika Ramones
Sara Rahimi
Tareq Radi
Daria Reaven
William Remmers
Kate Rennebohm
Kayleigh Ristuben
Ricardo Rivera, PhD Student, UC Berkeley
Jess Rizkallah, NYU
Quinn Roberts
Eduardo F. Rosario
Andrew Ross-NYU
Bessie Rubinstein
Sam Rush
Francey Russell
Kate Russell, PhD Student
Bassem Saad
Elena Saavedra Buckley
Djeneba Saccoh, Film Student
Viviane Saglier
Marina Samuel
Brandon Sanichar
Rex Santus
Suneil Sanzgiri, Filmmaker
Sam Saper
Sarah Sarai
Jose Sarmiento Hinojosa, Desistfilm.com
Samaa Savadjian
Asha Schechter
Jane Schoenbrun, Filmmaker
Cory Schoonover
Gabriel Schubiner
Sarah Schulman
Jourdain Searles
Pooja Senq
Ekrem Serdar
Elhum Shakerifar, Producer & Curator, Hakawati
Diana Shanahan
Herb Shellenberger
JS Shokrian, artist and scholar
Chris Shortt
Maya Shoukri
Tarek Shoukri
Thora Siemsen
Catarina Simoes, Artist, Filmmaker
Alex Simon
Asher Isaac Sinaiko
Manvir Singh
Brook Sinkinson Withrow, Writer and Producer
Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker
Joëlle Skaf
Nadine Smith, freelance writer & critic
Paul Smith
R Snow
Clarke Sondermann
Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone
Alessandra Spigno
Megan Stater Shaw
Courtney Stephens
Gabrielle Stiles
Sierra Stinson
Erick Stoll, filmmaker
Olivia Streisand
Elisabeth Subrin, Filmmaker/Professor
Rowan Sullivan
Madelyn Sutton
Tommy Swenson, Beacon Cinema
Naseem Syed
Kristen Sze-Tu
Maryam Tafakory
Lucy Talbot Allen
Yasmina Tawil, Arab Film and Media Institute
Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, Performance Artist and Poet
Sadra Tehrani
Gina Telaroli
Sofia Theodore-Pierce
Eugenie Theuer
Vanessa Thill
Breanne Thomas, Producer
Petra Torsan, UNATC I.L. Caragiale
Karen Trang
Chloe Truong-Jones
Kyle Turner, Freelance Writer
Sam Turner
Rachel Valinsky
Carlos Gerardo Valladares, Writer
Nancy Valladares
Christopher van Horn
Sophie van Well Groeneveld
Janique Vigier, writer
Rachel W., Producer
Matthew Wagstaffe
Milo Ward
Laura Weil
Ethan Weinstock, filmmaker
Etan Weisfogel
Valerie Werder, Film and Visual Studies PhD Student, Harvard University
Alex Werner
Lee Whitten, Associate Professor Art History Emeritus, Los Angeles City College
Joshua Harold Wiebe
Meg Wiessner
Elvia Wilk
Conor Williams, Writer and Filmmaker
Missouri Williams
Brandon Wilner, Writer
Bryce Wilner
Eddie Wilson
Gleb Wilson
Nine Yamamoto, Artist and Academic, University of Amsterdam
Joe Yanick, Sales Agent
Nadia Yaqub, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fatma Yehia
Michelle Yoon
Kristen Yoonsoo Kim
Ahmad Zaghal
Kit Zauhar
Abeeha Zawar
Alexander Zevin, scholar
Andros Zins-Browne
Aman Zutshi
Mikeeh Zwirner, IMAAFUSS

(Inquiries should be sent to ejcdelj@gmail.com or mayanshoukri@gmail.com)