<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<STYLE>.hmmessage P {
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
BODY.hmmessage {
FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt
}
</STYLE>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19046"></HEAD>
<BODY class=hmmessage bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=3>[Dear FDU list, Please see below for this important call
already signed -- names below -- by many of the city's most important
documentary filmmakers, many of who are also academics. Please consider
signing..info is below...one does not have to be a F-T filmmaker. Academics who
write on cinema, for example, may want to sign as well as others who want to
heed the call below. -- CW] </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Hello Filmmakers, Artists, Academics</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Please see the letter below, addressed to the co-chairs of the
Board of Hot Docs festival.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px" class=Apple-style-span><FONT size=3>To add
your name to this open letter, please send an email to </FONT><A
style="TEXT-INDENT: 0px !important" href="mailto:endapartheid@riseup.net"><FONT
size=3>endapartheid@riseup.net</FONT></A><FONT size=3> by <STRONG>midnight
EST Tuesday April 26</STRONG></FONT></SPAN><BR><BR><FONT size=3>
<HR id=stopSpelling>
</FONT>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"
class=Apple-style-span><BR><FONT size=3></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3><STRONG>NOTE</STRONG>: <STRONG>this is a
protest action -- not a call for boycotting either the festival, the films or
filmmakers -- we're calling on Hot Docs itself to refuse this collaboration with
Co-Pro 13 and the Israeli state.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3><BR></FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>________</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3><BR></FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><BR><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT size=3>To the
co-chairs of the board of directors of Hot Docs:<BR></FONT><A
href="mailto:cochairs@hotdocs.ca"><FONT
size=3>cochairs@hotdocs.ca</FONT></A></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3> </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT size=3>Dear Mr.
McMahon and Mr. Mirsky:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3><SPAN>
</SPAN>As members of the film and arts community, we are deeply disappointed to
learn that Hot Docs has decided to partner with the Israeli organization “CoPro
Documentary Marketing Foundation”. Intentionally or not, this decision
puts Hot Docs in direct collaboration with the Israeli state. By
partnering with CoPro, Hot Docs is participating in “Brand Israel”, a
state-funded campaign which deliberately pursues partners by creating venues
that shift the focus from six decades of Israel’s deadly violations of
international law to Israel’s achievements in medicine, science and
culture.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3><SPAN>
</SPAN>As artists and filmmakers who actively support the call from Palestinian
civil society for a non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
campaign against Israel, we are disheartened and disturbed to see Hot Docs
lending its endorsement to CoPro. In 2009, in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza
which left over 1400 Palestinians dead, hundreds of artists from around the
world signed the Toronto Declaration to protest TIFF’s complicity in rebranding
through the “Spotlight on Tel Aviv” program. Must we now add Hot Docs to
the list of cultural organizations whose complicity with the Israeli state puts
them on the wrong side of history?</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3><SPAN>
</SPAN>Given the general awareness of the cultural boycott of Israel and the
rebranding campaign following TIFF in 2009, the current collaboration with
Israeli State funded CoPro is particularly objectionable. It suggests, in
fact, a more deliberate demonstration of support for Israel’s propaganda
campaign than the 2005 Hot Docs Spotlight on Israel program which was also
sponsored, directly in this case, by the Israel Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. This indicates a trend that makes a mockery of Hot Docs stated
policy that it “cannot endorse or oppose any one political position or
cause” and that “Hot Docs does not support sides – it supports documentary
filmmakers”. Ultimately, this trend of collaboration with the Israeli
state puts progressive filmmakers and artists who support Hot Docs in an
increasingly compromised position.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3><SPAN>
</SPAN>How can Hot Docs live up to its slogan “Outspoken. Outstanding” if it
continues to collaborate with an apartheid state? Will Hot Docs be
outspoken about its complicity with the Israeli state when artists around the
world start questioning its actions? Answering the BDS call would be an
outstanding decision. Contrary to popular misconception, this would not
require sanctioning or excluding individual Israeli artists from the
program. Rather, respecting the cultural boycott of Israel demands that
organizations like Hot Docs refuse partnerships with institutions such as CoPro
which are supported by the Israeli state. It would mean standing in
solidarity with Palestinian artists, virtually all of whom have signed the BDS
call. It means saying No! To CoPro.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3><SPAN>
</SPAN>As artists committed to the freedom of Palestinians and to the
preservation of Hot Docs, we are calling on Hot Docs, and their documentary
filmmaker partners, to refuse collaboration with institutions, like CoPro, which
are supported by the Israeli state. We are not calling for a boycott of Hot
Docs. We are encouraging Hot Docs to find alternative ways of engaging
both Palestinian and Israeli progressive forces, while bypassing the Israeli
state, in a principled stand of cultural solidarity.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT size=3>Endorsed
by:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3><BR></FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Elle Flanders, filmmaker/artist</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Richard Fung, video artist, professor, OCAD
University (Hot Docs: various films<SPAN> </SPAN>screened; jury
member)</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Rebecca Garrett, filmmaker</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Amy Gottlieb, video artist</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>John Greyson, filmaker/video artist,
Associate Professor, York University (Hot Docs:<SPAN> </SPAN><I>Fig Trees</I>,
Canadian Premiere, 09; International Jury, 09)</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Cathy Gulkin, documentary film editor, DOC
member</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT size=3>Ali Kazimi,
filmmaker, associate professor, York University (Hot Docs: <I>Narmada; A
<SPAN></SPAN>Valley Rises,</I> Best Political Film, Best Director, Special
Mention for Best Film, <SPAN></SPAN>95; <I>Shooting Indians: A Journey with
Jeffrey Thomas, </I>Nominee, 98; <I>Continuous<SPAN> </SPAN>Journey</I>,
Honourable Mention 04; juror, 96, 99, 04)</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Paul Lee, filmmaker/film producer,
programmer, Honolulu Palestine Film Festival</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Naomi Binder Wall, filmmaker<BR></P></FONT>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Tom Waugh, professor, Concordia
University</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Kathy Wazana, filmmaker</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT size=3>b.h. Yael,
filmmaker/video artist, Professor, OCAD University</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>Dan Yon, filmmaker, anthropologist, associate
professor, York University</FONT></P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=ecxMsoNormal><FONT size=3>To add your name to this open letter to the
Hot Docs board, please send an<BR>email to </FONT><A
href="mailto:endapartheid@riseup.net"><FONT
size=3>endapartheid@riseup.net</FONT></A><FONT size=3> by midnight EST Tuesday
April 26. Please follow this format, following the other signatories: name,
occupation(s), (then any Hot Docs affiliations – screenings, juries -- in
parentheses). The final letter will be sent to Hot Docs Board of Directors the
next day (opening night is Thursday, April 28).<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Times"></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>