By Godfred Meba,Kate Janse van

Copyright theinsightnewsonline

Read Time: 3 minutes

By Kate Janse Van Rensburg

In solidarity with the people of
Palestine, various representatives of organisations picket against the Israeli
Film Festival outside Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall, Ghana, 17 September
2025. Image: Pan African Television

A coalition of nearly 400 organisations and prominent individuals in Ghana launched a campaign to cancel the “Israeli Film Festival,” scheduled
from 16-20 September 2025, at Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall. The campaign, which included a public letter, called on Silverbird to withdraw from
hosting the event and for all sponsors to pull out immediately.

The organisers of the “Cancel Israeli Film Festival” campaign described
the event as “Zionist propaganda” and an attempt to “whitewash genocide and apartheid” in the context of the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. “It is breathtaking hypocrisy that Silverbird, having just screened the anti-apartheid film Comrade Tambo’s London Recruits on 7 September, now seeks to celebrate the “culture” of today’s worst apartheid state,” read the statement. The organisers said that providing a platform for Israeli cultural expression equals “complicity in crimes against humanity.”

With Palestinian flags flying high, the coalition peacefully picketed at the Silverbird Cinema during the festival dates to urge public support for the boycott. The campaign called on all sponsors, including SAF STL, Amandi Foundation, Rolider, Sienna Services, EON, and the University of Media, Arts and Communications (UniMac), to withdraw their support. The
involvement of UniMac, a publicly-funded institution, was singled out as particularly “disgraceful.” Campaigners warned that if the festival proceeds, they will initiate a boycott of all companies and institutions involved.

Member of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, Victoria Wilson, who was at the picket, said, “We are against the genocide that Israel is committing. We are going to be picketing here throughout the film festival with a message that says Palestine must be free. Until the genocide stops, we are going to champion the
cause of the freedom of the Palestinian people.”

“The reason I am here today is because I am human and I believe in humanity. I do not believe in genocide against any people. I don’t believe in occupying land.
I don’t believe in settlers going in on stolen land and ethnically cleansing
people,” said Susie Rundle, another protestor against the Israeli Film Festival.

The campaign also highlighted Ghana’s historical anti-imperialist stance and record of solidarity with liberation movements, arguing that the festival is an insult to the country’s values. This campaign aligns itself with a growing global
movement of outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It is supported by a wide range of leading Ghanaian public figures, artists, academics, journalists, activists, students and organisations.

List of endorsing individuals:

Kwesi Pratt Jnr. – Veteran
journalist and Social Justice commentator
Emile Short – Former
Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice

Nii Kwate Owoo – Celebrated
Ghanaian filmmaker
Audrey Gadzekpo – Renowned
academic and public intellectual
Dzodzi Tsikata – Distinguished
scholar and activist
Yao Graham – Coordinator, Third
World Network-Africa
Kwame Karikari – Media freedom
advocate, Wisconsin International University College
Oliver Barker-Vormawor –
Democracy Hub leader
Hardi Yakubu – Youth Leader and
Coordinator, Africans Rising Movement
Akyaaba Addai-Sebo –
Pan-Africanist and human rights campaigner
Bright Ackwerh – Leading visual

Chris Atim – historic Ghanaian
student leader and respected Health Economist
Kwame Mfodwo – Public
intellectual
Akunu Dake – Activist and

Dr. Sylvia Bawa – Academic and
feminist activist
Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo –
Scholar and gender advocate
Kwasi Adu-Amankwah – Trade
unionist and civil society leader
Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh –
Intellectual and celebrated Gender Equality Champion
Wanlov Kubolor – Major artiste
and music star
Dede Amanor-Wilks – Campaigning Journalist and Economic

List of Endorsing Groups

Ghanaians Against

Justice and Freedom 4

Legon Palestine
Solidarity Activists
All-Africa People’s
Revolutionary Party
Humanists Association of

Economic Fighters League
Socialist Students and
Workers Solidarity Network
Jamaica Affairs Ghana
Rastafari Council
International Socialists

African Institute of
Strategic Studies (AISS)
Democracy Hub
Africa Water Justice

Ghana Water Justice

Tax Justice Coalition

Rightify Ghana
Socialist Movement of

Palestine Solidarity

Kubolor Foundation
Venceremos Development

Handala Resiste
Pan African Heritage
Youth Movement
Drama Queens
Feminist activists

LGBT+ Rights Ghana
FemInStyle Africa
African Continental
Unity Party (ACUP)
Speak Out Now Socialists
Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) Ghana
Red Vests Movement
Ubuntu Reading Group
Ukombozi Library
Free Palestine Movement
in South Africa
SCONET Pan Afro Media
Laboratory Art Studios

African Youth
Improvement Foundation
Activista Ghana
Socialist Students and
Workers Network (University of Ghana)
The Socialist Movement
of Ghana (SMG)
GCA – Ghana Caribbean
Association
(and many other collectives and
foundations as per the full signatures list)

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Kate Janse Van Rensburg is a member of the Pan Africanism Today Secretariat.