Almost 40 filmmakers have signed a letter condemning Mubi, a streaming platform and film distributor, for its connections to Sequoia Capital, an investment company with ties to the Israeli military. The filmmakers, who have previously worked with Mubi, are calling on the company to rethink its relationship with Sequoia in light of the ongoing war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The letter highlights Sequoia’s investments in Israeli military technology companies, including Kela, a startup that develops operating systems for integrating artificial intelligence and commercial technology into military operations. The filmmakers argue that Mubi’s financial growth is now "explicitly connected to the genocide in Gaza," which implicates all those who work with the company.<\/p>\n
The letter also condemns the widespread destruction of Palestinian cultural sites and the killing of journalists, artists, and film workers. The filmmakers believe that an arthouse film platform like Mubi cannot claim to support a global community of cinephiles while working with a company that profits from the murder of Palestinian artists and filmmakers.<\/p>\n
The filmmakers are calling on Mubi to publicly condemn Sequoia Capital for its "genocide profits," remove Sequoia partner Andrew Reed from Mubi’s board of directors, and adopt an ethical investment policy that respects the guidelines set by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).<\/p>\n
The letter has been signed by several prominent filmmakers, including Aki Kaurism\u00e4ki, Joshua Oppenheimer, Radu Jude, and Nina Menkes. Other signatories include Jessica Beshir, Robert Greene, Kazik Radwanski, and Carson Lund.<\/p>\n
Mubi has previously responded to criticism over its ties to Sequoia Capital, stating that the convictions of individual investors do not reflect the company’s views. However, the filmmakers are demanding more concrete action from the company to address their concerns.<\/p>\n
Dear Mubi leadership,
\nAs filmmakers who have a professional relationship with Mubi, we want to express our serious concern about Mubi’s decision to accept $100 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, a private equity company that has invested in Israeli military technology companies. We believe that Mubi’s financial growth is now explicitly connected to the genocide in Gaza, which implicates all those who work with Mubi.<\/p>\n
We approach our work with care and consideration for the people and communities we represent, and the audience that will see our films. However, Mubi’s decision to work with Sequoia shows a complete lack of accountability to the artists and communities that have helped the company succeed. We believe that it is our ethical duty not to cause harm, and we assume that our partners will at least refuse to profit from terrible violence against Palestinians.<\/p>\n
We ask you to consider the call from film workers for Palestine and take measures that respond sensibly to the artists and audience who are essential to Mubi’s success.<\/p>\n
Best regards,
\nAki Kaurism\u00e4ki
\nRadu Jude
\nJessica Beshir
\nJoshua Oppenheimer
\nRobert Greene
\nKazik Radwanski
\nCarson Lund
\nMichael Harrison
\nNate Fisher
\nBlake Williams
\nIva Radivojevic
\nNina Menkes
\nBen Rivers
\nBingham Bryant
\nKit Zauhar
\nIan Edlund
\nSarah Friedland
\nKathleen Collins
\nMiguel Gomes
\nConstance Tsang
\nTruong Minh Quy
\nDeragh Campbell
\nLaura Huertas
\nJohn Smith
\nAndrea Luka Zimmerman
\nCherie Saulter
\nTyler Taormina
\nErik Lund
\nMaureen Fazendeiro
\nLevan Akin
\nCourtney Stephens
\nEric Baudelaire
\nCamilo Restrepo
\nTeddy Williams
\nNahuel Perez Biscayart
\nJussi Vatanen
\nNeo Sora
\nSofia Bohdanowicz<\/p>\n
Filmmakers Condemn Mubi’s Ties to Israeli Military Almost 40 filmmakers have signed a letter condemning Mubi, a streaming platform and film distributor, for its connections to Sequoia Capital, an investment company with ties to the Israeli military. The filmmakers, who have previously worked with Mubi, are calling on the company to rethink its relationship with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17974,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17972\/revisions\/17974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}