No Screens for Genocide: Ghanaians Rise Against Israeli Film Festival

ACCRA is on the cusp of a defining moment. From 16 to 20 September 2025, Silverbird Cinema at Accra Mall plans to host an Israeli Film Festival—a slick cultural showcase presented as harmless art, but in truth, a weapon of propaganda for a regime accused of genocide and apartheid.

Nearly 400 organisations and individuals—a coalition of academics, artists, journalists, trade unionists, human rights defenders, students, faith groups, and grassroots activists—have declared with one voice: Not in our city. Not in our name.

This is no ordinary protest. It is a historic rallying of Ghana’s conscience. The signatories span the nation’s intellectual and cultural elite—Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Emile Short, Nii Kwate Owoo, Audrey Gadzekpo, Dzodzi Tsikata, Wanlov Kubolor, and dozens more—joining forces with grassroots collectives like the Economic Fighters League, Africans Rising, Justice and Freedom 4 Palestine, and the Socialist Movement of Ghana. Together, they embody Ghana’s proud anti-imperialist tradition, from Kwame Nkrumah’s solidarity with liberation struggles to the country’s unwavering stand against apartheid South Africa.

Their message is clear: Hosting this festival dishonours Ghana’s history and insults the people of Palestine, who today face ethnic cleansing, starvation, and mass slaughter. By Israel’s own admissions, more than 200,000 Palestinians—10% of Gaza’s population—have been killed through bombardment, sniper fire, and deliberate starvation policies. To dress up such horror in cinema is cultural laundering—genocide screened in high definition.

The outrage is not just moral, it is political. Campaigners have put Silverbird Cinema, Kempinski Hotel, STL Amandi Foundation, Rolider, Sienna Services, EON, and even the state-funded University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMac) on notice: your names are now tied to bloodshed. Endorsement of this event is endorsement of apartheid. To persist is to be complicit.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Only days ago, Silverbird screened Comrade Tambo’s London Recruits, honouring the struggle against apartheid South Africa. Now it proposes to glorify today’s worst apartheid state? As the campaigners argue: this is betrayal at the deepest level.

The coalition is not stopping at condemnation. They are mobilising. Pickets will surround the cinema from day one of the festival. Boycotts will target every sponsor. Silence will not be allowed. The people are watching, and history will not forget.

This fight is larger than a film festival. It is about Ghana’s soul. Will the nation honour its legacy of standing with the oppressed, or will it permit its public institutions and cultural spaces to become tools of imperial propaganda?

The campaign’s call is urgent and uncompromising:

• Cancel the Israeli Film Festival immediately.

• Sponsors must withdraw or be branded collaborators in genocide.

• Ghanaians must join the pickets, spread the message, and escalate boycotts.

Ghana’s place in history is being tested. To side with apartheid is to side with oppression, occupation, and mass murder. To resist is to affirm the country’s deepest values of justice, solidarity, and freedom.

As the statement thunders: “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.”

Accra, the world is watching. The choice is clear: Cancel the festival. Stand with Palestine. Honour Ghana’s legacy.