{"id":89586,"date":"2025-09-11T06:05:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=89586"},"modified":"2025-09-11T06:05:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:05:32","slug":"emma-stone-jonathan-glazer-join-growing-list-of-hollywood-figures-boycotting-israeli-film-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/emma-stone-jonathan-glazer-join-growing-list-of-hollywood-figures-boycotting-israeli-film-institutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Emma Stone, Jonathan Glazer join growing list of Hollywood figures boycotting Israeli film institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANDREW LAPIN<\/p>\n

(JTA) \u2014 A boycott circulated by film-industry luminaries targeting Israeli film and cultural institutions is picking up steam days after its release, with more big names like Emma Stone and Bowen Yang signing onto a list that now numbers more than 3,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Emma Stone attends the “Bugonia” red carpet during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A growing number of Jewish creatives are also signing on, including Jonathan Glazer, the director of the Holocaust film \u201cThe Zone of Interest\u201d and an executive producer on the new Palestinian-led Gaza drama \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab.\u201d <\/p>\n

Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, \u201cThe Bear\u201d star Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Oscar-winning screenwriter Arthur Harari and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker are among the other Jews who have joined the list. Some of the non-Jewish names now include Guy Pearce (recently Oscar-nominated for playing an antisemitic industrialist in \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d), Harris Dickinson, Elliot Page and Peter Sarsgaard. Sarsgaard recently starred in the docudrama \u201cSeptember 5\u201d about the 1972 terror attacks on Israeli Olympians; his daughter with Jewish actress Maggie Gyllenhaal was arrested at a Columbia University pro-Palestinian protest earlier this year. <\/p>\n

The petition, circulated by the group Film Workers For Palestine, pledges \u201cnot to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions \u2014 including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies \u2014 that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.\u201d It names organizations like the Jerusalem Film Festival, but says the boycott does not apply to Israeli individuals.<\/p>\n

The group says they are inspired by a similar boycott that had targeted Apartheid South Africa. Actors Javier Bardem and Susan Sarandon helped to promote the petition on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Several Israeli film associations spoke out against the boycott. The group Friends of the Israeli Film and TV Producers Association, in a statement to NPR, called the boycott \u201cprofoundly misguided\u201d and said its signatories \u201care targeting the wrong people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Israeli actress Gal Gadot, center, and festival director Roni Mahadav-Levin, right, attend the opening ceremony of the Jerusalem Film Festival on June 17, 2025. (Hazem Bader\/AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBy targeting us \u2014 the creators who give voice to diverse narratives and foster dialogue \u2014 these signatories are undermining their own cause and attempting to silence us,\u201d the group said. \u201cWe call on the international community to recognize our commitment to dialogue, peace, and giving voice to all sides of this conflict. Our stories are tools for understanding and healing, and we will continue using them to help bring an end to violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadav Ben Simon, chair of the Israeli screenwriter\u2019s guild, also called the boycott counterproductive. In a statement published in The Guardian, he said that Israeli filmmakers often collaborate with Palestinian creatives and that boycotts \u201charm precisely those who are committed to fostering dialogue and building bridges between peoples. Such measures risk silencing the very voices striving tirelessly for reconciliation and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the boycott\u2019s exemption for Israeli individuals, Ben Simon added, \u201cIn Israel, there is no such thing as boycotting institutions without affecting creators\u2026 There are very few Israeli films that are not funded in some way by state-budgeted institutions or foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Share