Two-Time Palme D'Or Winner Ken Loach Shares Open Letter Remembering Palestinian Journalist Fatima Hassouna & Calls For An End To The Violence In Gaza
Longtime collaborators and two-time Palme d'Or winners Ken Loach and Paul Laverty have shared a lengthy open letter backing Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk, the latest feature from Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, which debuts this evening in Cannes.
The film is a hot topic in Cannes this week as it predominantly features Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed on April 16 in an Israeli airstrike on her home in northern Gaza. Hassouna was killed alongside 10 members of her family, including her pregnant sister.
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Since Israel began its offensive in Gaza, following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1000 people, at least 52,000 people have been killed, more than half of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. Dozens of Gazan civilians have been killed this week alone. Meanwhile, 58 Israeli hostages remain in the enclave.
In the open letter posted to social media, Loach and Laverty, Cannes veterans with ten competition films and two Palme d'Or wins between them, detail their deep concern about the continued violence in Gaza and call on the international film community to advocate for peace here in Cannes.
'For a few short days, the world's attention rests on Cannes as film-makers from many countries try their best to make sense of what is happening around them. Cannes has a tradition of engagement in the affairs of the day, and some still have vivid memories of the events of 1968,' the letter reads.
'Young Fatima clearly foresaw her own murder, and said, 'I want a loud death.' On 15th May, the day of the screening, can we honour this courageous young woman, and her fellow Palestinian journalists (no foreign journalist has been allowed into Gaza) who gave their lives to bear witness to mass murder.'
The duo also expresses their support for Farsi and her filmmaking team. The missive comes after another open letter signed by hundreds of actors and filmmakers emerged this week. You can read the full letter from Loach and Laverty below.
Open Letter:
A note of solidarity from Ken Loach and Paul Laverty to those who made the film 'PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK' to be premiered in Cannes in 2025, and to the many who will see it in the future.
Dear Friends,
The film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk directed by Sepideh Farsi, part of the ACID parallel section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, will be screened on May 15th. Congratulations to all those who made this happen. The film celebrates the life of photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, 25, who was murdered in Gaza, alongside her two sisters, three brothers and her father, on the 16th April, one day after the film was selected for Cannes.
She joins what Reporters Without Borders calls 'the massacre' of journalists, now approaching 200, over the last 18 months.
At least 3 UN bodies, plus Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Médecins Sans Frontières, and many others have described Israel's actions in Gaza as Genocide. Perhaps the most conclusive evidence assembled has been the 800 page report and interactive digital platform by experts at Forensic Architecture. Here is the link to their rigorous work called 'The Cartography of Genocide.'
This is one of the most devastating studies of our time.
https://gaza.forensic-architecture.org/database
Their conclusion is as follows. 'The patterns we have observed concerning Israel's military conduct in Gaza indicate a systematic and organised campaign to destroy life, conditions necessary for life, and life-sustaining infrastructure.'
No-one can now claim we do not know.
Consequences follow.
The Genocide Convention came into force in 1951. Article I states that all signatory states must actively PREVENT and PUNISH genocide. This is an international obligation and not an internal matter alone. It states that individuals can be punished whether as private individuals or as public officials.
'Complicity in Genocide' is explicitly addressed in Article III (e) which includes 'direct assistance' (weapons or arms),'indirect assistance' (political or diplomatic support) and crucially, 'failure to act', i.e. knowing failure to take action to prevent genocide, when, in certain cases, one has the means and responsibility to do so.
The Genocide Convention is ignored by State signatories around the world. It is ignored by institutions within these states. At a minimum, why are State prosecuting services not pursuing the arms dealers and their investors?
Now that the International Court of Justice has shamefully delayed the case of South Africa V Israel until January 2026, we can see in full horror the collapse of humanitarian law before our eyes. How many more 2000 pound bombs will Israel drop on tents before the hearing in 2026? How many more might die of starvation?
For a few short days the world's attention rests on Cannes as film-makers from many countries try their best to make sense of what is happening around them. Cannes has a tradition of engagement in the affairs of the day, and some still have vivid memories of the events of 1968.
Young Fatima clearly foresaw her own murder, and said 'I want a loud death'.
On 15th May, the day of the screening, can we honour this courageous young woman, and her fellow Palestinian journalists, (no foreign journalist has been allowed into Gaza) who gave their lives to bear witness to mass murder.
Can we all make her death as loud as possible, and insist that States carry out their duties under the Genocide Convention?
Can we demand that the international community puts an end to the war crimes of Israel, enabled by the United States, and the other corrupt and cowardly Governments, including our own in the UK who follow in their wake?
If we do not stop Genocide now, the Israeli/Trump version of the Riviera in Gaza will be built on the rubble and the dead. The ethnic cleansing will continue through the West Bank and the Palestinian people will have been finally driven from their historic homeland.
If the war criminals escape justice what horrors will come next?
Fatima Hassouna , and her family, murdered on the 16th April, '25, Rest in Peace.
PAUL LAVERTY, KEN LOACH
May 2025.
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