By Cancel Israeli Film,Godfred Meba
Copyright theinsightnewsonline
Read Time: 5 minutes
For Immediate Release
Date: 15 September 2025
CANCEL the ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL!
Ghanaians Unite to Oppose Israeli Film Festival Amid Genocide in Gaza, and in support of a Free Palestine
Nearly 400 individuals and organisations have united to oppose the so-called Israeli Film Festival scheduled to be hosted at Silverbird Cinema at The Accra Mall from tomorrow 16th to 20th September 2025. Signatories to a public letter demand that Silverbird withdraw from hosting this Zionist propaganda event and that all sponsors immediately pull out of supporting what they describe as an attempt to whitewash genocide and apartheid.
This campaign is part of an emerging national movement in support of a Free Palestine and global wave of outrage at the continuing genocidal ethnic cleansing, mass slaughter and starvation in Gaza, where, even by Israel’s own admissions, over 200,000 Palestinians have been killed, about 10% of the entire population, through bombing, sniper attacks, and the deliberate withholding of food supplies.
Ghana’s long anti-imperialist traditions and history of solidarity with liberation struggles are being invoked by campaigners, who say that the festival is an insult to the country’s legacy and values.
This principled position is shared by
filmmakers, cultural workers, defenders of democracy, dignity and equality, and advanced by an unprecedented movement of international solidarity with
Palestine; and in opposition to the racist, apartheid and genocidal State of Israel
Prominent Ghanaians Among the
Signatories
The statement has been endorsed by a wide diversity of organisations, individuals, and leading Ghanaian public figures, academics, artists, journalists, workers, students and activists, including:
Kwesi Pratt Jnr. – Veteran
journalist and Social Justice commentator
Emile Short – Former Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
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
Dede Amanor-Wilks – Campaigning Journalist and Economic Historian
These prominent figures join forces with grassroots activists, student networks, professional bodies, artists, and faith-based organisations in calling for an end to complicity in Israel’s crimes against humanity.
Call to Action
Members of the coalition intend to picket the festival and are urging the public to support and to join them in
peaceful protest. Should the sponsors fail to withdraw, campaigners warn that they will initiate boycotts of all companies and institutions complicit in this event, prominent among which are SAF STLAmandi Foundation, Kempinski
Hotel, Rolider, Sienna Services, EON, and, incredibly,
the University of Media, Arts and Communications (UniMac), a publicly-funded university and therefore a state-sector institution in Ghana.
The campaigners insist that providing a platform for Israel’s propaganda is equivalent to endorsing genocide and vow that history will hold accountable those who side with apartheid and occupation.
“We cannot stand by while the genocide of Palestinians is laundered through art and culture. Ghana has always stood on the side of the oppressed – today we must stand with Palestine.” – Cancel Israel Film Festival Campaign Statement
Join the Campaign
The campaign calls on all Ghanaians and international allies to:
Support the boycott of sponsors and partners of the festival
Join the pickets at Silverbird
during the festival dates
Amplify the call for solidarity
with Palestine through media, social platforms, and community spaces
For interviews and media enquiries, please contact:
Spokesperson: Gyekye Tanoh
Email: bgyekye@hotmail.com
Phone/WhatsApp: +233244537409
List of Endorsing Groups
Ghanaians Against Genocide
Justice and Freedom 4 Palestine
Legon Palestine Solidarity Activists
All-Africa People’s Revolutionary Party
Humanists Association of Ghana
Economic Fighters League
Socialist Students and Workers Solidarity Network
Jamaica Affairs Ghana
Rastafari Council
International Socialists of Ghana
African Institute of Strategic Studies (AISS)
Democracy Hub
Africa Water Justice Network
Ghana Water Justice Platform
Tax Justice Coalition Ghana
Rightify Ghana
Socialist Movement of Ghana
Palestine Solidarity Committee
Kubolor Foundation
Venceremos Development Consult
Handala Resiste
Pan African Heritage Youth Movement
Drama Queens
Feminist activists (various)
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
Laborlatory Art Studios (Kumasi)
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)
09 September 2025
NO TO THE ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL IN ACCRA #FREEPALESTINE #BOYCOTTISRAEL
STATEMENT BY CANCEL ISRAELI FILM FESTIVAL CAMPAIGN
We the under-signed organisations and individuals condemn Silverbird Cinema for hosting an “Israeli Film Festival” on 16–20 September 2025, co-organised with the Zionist state. Any platform for apartheid, genocide, and the mass killing of Palestinian civilians is complicity in crimes against humanity.
Silverbird must understand the legal,
social and political weight of this decision, as the ICC and ICJ processes
expand worldwide. Across Africa, people are proud to stand against Israel’s racist, apartheid regime, and global solidarity with Palestine is stronger than ever.
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.
We demand Silverbird cancel this festival immediately and pledge never again to platform perpetrators of apartheid and genocide. We also call out the complicity of sponsors—Kempinski Hotel, SAF (STL), Rolider, EON, Sienna Services, UniMac, and others—whose names are now
tied to bloodshed. History will not forget.
UniMac’s involvement is especially
disgraceful. All educational and cultural life in Gaza and Palestine is being systematically targeted and wiped out as part of all-encompassing genocide.That is why Lecturers, Students, Trade Unions in Education and Universities all over are notable among those standing up in Solidarity with Palestine and for comprehensive Boycott of Israel. UniMac is a state university funded by the Ghanaian people. Its support for this festival is a terrible abuse of public trust. We urge Vice Chancellor Prof Eric Opoku-Mensah to reverse this
dishonourable decision and instead honour the values of education, democracy, and cultural freedom.
That is why Lecturers, Students, Trade Unions in Education and Universities all over are notable among those standing up in Solidarity with Palestine and for comprehensive Boycott of Israel. UniMac is a state university funded by the Ghanaian people. Its support for this festival is a terrible abuse of public trust. We urge Vice Chancellor Prof Eric Opoku-Mensah to reverse this
dishonourable decision and instead honour the values of education, democracy, and cultural freedom.
We further demand all sponsors withdraw immediately and distance themselves from this obscenity. To remain is to be marked as collaborators in genocide.
From 16 September, we will picket
Silverbird in our numbers. If they persist, they will face relentless public
resistance. There can be no “business as usual” for enablers of apartheid and genocide.
Cancel this festival. Withdraw your
sponsorship. The people are watching. History will judge.
#FREEPALESTINE #BOYCOTTISRAEL #BDS
