2024-04-10 00:02:32
London | British actors, journalists, and directors established a cooperative called “Cinema for Gaza” with the aim of translating their solidarity with the Palestinians into practical efforts that help alleviate the suffering of the people who have been subjected to a public war of extermination for more than six months. Hannah Flint, Julia Jackman, Laila Latif, Sophie Monks Kaufman, and Helen Simons decided to organize activities on behalf of the cooperative to raise money for the Medical Aid to the Palestinians (MAP), a British charitable organization that specializes in providing medical services to Palestinians in the West Bank. Occupied Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and the camps in Lebanon, defends their rights to receive treatment and medical care, and supports the development of local capabilities and skills to ensure the long-term development of the Palestinian health care system. The association is now involved in responding to the emergency in Gaza.
Susan Sarandon, Paul Mescal and Olivia Colman are among the donating artists
In this context, the cooperative launched an electronic charity auction to sell symbolic belongings of artists for the highest price, which will last until April 12.
Among the artists who donated items to the auction was British director Jonathan Glazer, whose film regarding the Holocaust, “Zone of Interest,” won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 2024 Oscars. Glazer donated signed posters for his films “The Zone of Interest” and “Under the Skin.” Note that he had spoken in his Oscar acceptance speech once morest the use of Judaism and the Holocaust by the Hebrew state to justify the extermination of Palestinians and “strip Gaza of its humanity.”
The auction items include scripts of films and series and song lyrics signed by their creators, opportunities for virtual meetings via Zoom with well-known actors and artists, special tickets to attend improvised comedy shows, and opportunities to take personal photos with the camera of a professional film journalist, or to spend a day on film sets. And others. These donations have flowed in from a wide range of film talent from the UK and abroad, including Tilda Swinton, Ramy Youssef, Peter Capaldi, Paul Mescal, Olivia Colman, Susan Sarandon, Imelda Staunton, Brian Cox, Joseph Quinn, Mike Leigh, Misan Harriman, Joanna Hogg, Amy Lou Wood, and Josh O’Connor. The initiative’s website displays 134 parallel auctions for items, at least a quarter of which exceeded the limit of US$1,265 each.
In addition to the opportunities to bid on exhibits, the initiative’s website also provides the possibility of direct donations. As of writing these lines, the total funds raised from parallel bids and donations have exceeded 126,000 US dollars, while organizers hope that the initiative will succeed in raising at least 316,000 dollars.
Medical Aid for the Palestinians was founded by British orthopedic surgeon Swee Chai Ang, who volunteered to serve in the Sabra and Shatila camps and refused to leave the hospital there during the massacre in 1982. Upon her return to the UK, she joined other medical professionals and humanitarian workers to establish MAP, from In order to organize the sending of doctors and nurses to work in Palestinian refugee camps and provide care for them on the front lines.
Note that Sui Chai Ang wrote in “From Beirut to Jerusalem” regarding her heroic experience, and she also contributed to writing a specialized reference on war surgery by drawing on the atrocities she witnessed in the camps. (To participate in auctions, or to donate directly: click here).
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#heart #Hollywood.. #Cinema #Gaza