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…
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