Cinema for Gaza, a group launched by a small group of female filmmakers and film journalists, has successfully raised more than $315,000 to support medical aid for the civilian population in Gaza.
A celebrity auction, organized by Cinema for Gaza, and supported by the likes of Tilda Swinton, Annie Lennox, Joaquin Phoenix, Spike Lee and Guillermo del Toro, raised some $316,778 (£254,297) for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a U.K.-based charity that provides on-the-ground medical support, from sterile water to cancer drugs, for those on the Gaza Strip. The celebrities donated personal items — from signed film posters to personal Zoom chats to, in the case of Lennox, the handwritten lyrics to her Eurythmics hit “Sweet Dreams” — to be sold off to the highest bidder. (Lennox’s lyrics sheet was the top seller, with a bidder paying $26,222 for the piece of pop music history).
The Zone of Interest filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, who referenced the Gaza conflict in his 2024 Oscars acceptance speech, offered to donate seven posters from the film, signed by himself, Zone composer Mica Levi and producer James Wilson, as well as a selection of posters for his 2014 feature Under the Skin, to raise funds for the MAP charity. Glazer’s speech galvanized Hollywood by drawing praise from those urging a ceasefire amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and sharp criticism from some pro-Israel and Jewish leaders in Hollywood. His donation to the Cinema for Gaza auction raised $13,702.
The online auction went live on April 2 and closed just before midnight U.K. time on Friday, April 12. The final tally for the auction may end up slightly higher than the figure recorded after the official close.
“We thought we might raise maybe £20,000 ($25,000),” says London-based film journalist and critic Hanna Flint, who set up Cinema for Gaza together with her film industry friends Hannah Farr, Julia Jackman, Leila Latif, Sophie Monks Kaufman and Helen Simmons a few months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.
“We’re a very diverse group of women, we’ve got women of color, we’ve got Jewish women, Muslim women, Christians, atheists who all came together other of this need to do something tangible to show our support and activism for the humanitarian crisis that’s going on [in Gaza],” says Flint. “We really believe that cinema can be a powerful tool, a political tool to speak about the world, to reflect and engage with what’s going on, and we thought what better way [to get] people in our industry to come together [and] unite to try and help people who are not doing that well.”
What initially started as a very British affair — the first group of celebrity donors were all Brits, from directors Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Asif Kapadia and Joanna Hogg to actors Brian Cox, Harris Dickinson and Alison Oliver — quickly went global. Ramy Youssef donated tickets to his live show as well as to the afterparty and a meet-and-greet with the comedian and Poor Things actor. Oscar-winner Phoenix donated a signed Joker poster. Del Toro contributed six signed books. Lee kicked in with a signed, framed poster of Malcolm X.
“Just the variety of the donors has been incredible, from people who are in Marvel movies to the newest British filmmakers, people from all over the world,” says Farr. “There have been moments I didn’t believe it was all happening. Like when Susan Sarandon dropped into my DMs. (Sarandon auctioned off a signed Rocky Horror Picture Show T-shirt as well as a one-on-one Zoom chat).
“I did not expect this caliber of celebs,” says Zahra Yassine, the community and challenge events manager at Medical Aid for Palestinians, who coordinated the auction with Cinema for Gaza. “Honestly, it’s been beyond heartwarming to see how many people not only care but really want to get involved and do their bit to help. To be honest, in terms of the amount raised, this has been unbelievable.”
Yassine said all the money raised will go directly to MAP’s emergency response efforts in Gaza. The organization is the only NGO currently operating in the north of Gaza, under dire and dangerous conditions.
“It’s been a really tough, tough, six months,” she says, “We worry about our colleagues [in Gaza] every day. It’s an incredibly dangerous place to be.”
Flint says in the immediate wake of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the beginning of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, she noticed, within the film community, “a fear to speak out” criticizing the bombing of Gaza or showing solidarity with the Palestinian people. “But when people saw these people: Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox, Rami Youssef, suddenly, it becomes okay,” she says. “Sometimes you need this kind of collective voice to help people feel brave and say: ‘I want to stand up and help.’”
Farr says the response to the auction has been “overwhelmingly positive” with only a few online snipes. “The sort of comments you’d get if you were posting about this issue in any sort of context,” she says. “And I’ve been getting so many emails from journalists who have been on my press list for years just saying how wonderful and how pleased everyone is.”
“We are trying to take away the political aspect of this, about who started the war, whose fault this is,” adds Flint. “This is about the fact there is an infrastructure [in Gaza] that has been decimated. Healthcare is needed. It’s trying to save people’s lives. And I think that just can’t be criticized.”
Cinema for Gaza will continue its fundraising efforts. They will be selling Cinema for Gaza T-shirts designed by Henry James Garrett and, over the weekend, will hold a raffle for donated celebrity items that were not included in the original auction. Anyone who donates £10 (or more) to MAP will get a chance to win the “ultimate Cinema For Gaza hamper” which includes: Special edition posters of You Were Never Really Here signed by Lynne Ramsay, Phoenix and Jim Wilson; a signed limited edition Four Lions poster from Kayvan Novak; and a one-on-one Zoom session with Ramsay.