More than 180 LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and film artists from over two dozen countries have signed a groundbreaking pledge committing not to participate in TLVFest, the Israeli government-sponsored LGBT film festival in Tel Aviv.
The signatories affirm that LGBTQIA+ liberation “is intimately connected to the liberation of all oppressed peoples and communities” and commit “not to submit films or otherwise participate in TLVFest” or other Israeli government sponsored events “until Israel complies with international law and respects Palestinian human rights.”
Palestinian queers have called for a boycott of TLVFest due to its role in Israel’s pinkwashing agenda, which uses LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image to cover up Israel’s grave violations of the UN-sanctioned human rights of millions of Palestinians.
Signatories include Turner Prize winner Charlotte Prodger, Palme d’Or nominee Alain Guiraudie, award-winning documentary filmmaker Harjant Gill, Touch of Pink director Ian Iqbal Rashid, producer and Lambda Literary Board president Amy Scholder, Tribeca Nelson Mandela Award winner Thomas Allen Harris, renowned scholar, AIDS historian and screenwriter Sarah Schulman, EIDF Grand Prix winner Minji Ma, award winning filmmaker Emmanuel Moon-chil Park, Seoul Human Rights Film Festival director Hyun Lego Park, award winning director John Greyson, Elle Flanders and Tamira Sawatzky of the award winning collective Public Studio, Governor General Award winner Adrian Stimson, award winning video artist Richard Fung, America in Transition director Andre Perez, Catherine Gund of Aubin Pictures, director and screenwriter Raquel Freire and Adelina Anthony and Marisa Becerra of AdeRisa.
Film scholars Alexandra Juhasz, Thomas Waugh, Alisa Lebow, Marc Siegel, Shohini Ghosh, So Mayer, Ingrid Ryberg, Chris Berry and Michele Aaron also signed the pledge.
Over the past few years, more than twenty participating filmmakers have supported calls from Palestinian queers and civil society organizations to withdraw from TLVFest.
This pledge marks a new, proactive stand by film artists in solidarity with Palestinian queers and the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
QUEER CINEMA FOR PALESTINE 