More Hollywood stars join protest letter over Gaza 'genocide'

Cannes: Hollywood heavyweights Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry’s silence on what it called “genocide” in Gaza, the organisers confirmed Friday.

The petition, signed by more than 370 actors and filmmakers, also denounced Israel’s killing of Fatima Hassouna, the young Gaza photojournalist featured in the documentary “Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk”, which premiered at the Cannes film festival Thursday.

The organisers of the letter said the French actor Juliette Binoche, who is chairing the jury at Cannes, also added her name to the letter, along with Rooney Mara, US indie director Jim Jarmusch and “Lupin” star Omar Sy.

Binoche had initially seemed to pull back from supporting it as the festival opened on Tuesday, instead delivering a tribute to Hassouna, who was killed with 10 members of her family the day after she learned the film would be shown at Cannes.

“She should have been here tonight with us,” an emotional Binoche said at the opening ceremony.

The growing protest comes after several days of mounting bloodshed in the besieged Palestinian territory, with 120 people killed on Thursday and 50 reported dead since midnight.

“Schindler’s List” star Ralph Fiennes as well as Richard Gere, Mark Ruffalo, Guy Pearce, Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, and directors David Cronenberg, Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Leigh said they were “ashamed” of their industry’s failure to speak out about Israel’s siege of Gaza in the original letter.

In her Cannes speech Tuesday Binoche also referenced the Israeli hostages taken by Palestinian group Hamas in its October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.

“Sicko” and “Bowling for Columbine” director Michael Moore and French actor Camille Cottin of “Call My Agent” fame are among other entertainment industry figures who have added their names to the letter since Tuesday.