Filmmakers Sign Open Letter Urging Mubi To Sever Ties With Investor Linked To Israeli Military

Mubi, the global streaming platform and film production company had reportedly raised $100 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley-based venture capital company which is said to have close ties with the Israeli military. Earlier, Film Workers for Palestine, an international activist organisation that claims to represents more than 9,000 industry workers, in a note, had criticised the firm claiming that it is "deeply invested in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people."

Now, more than 35 filmmakers who are associated with Mubi – including Nate Fisher, Sarah Friedland, Radu Jude, Aki Kaurismäki, Miguel Gomes, Nina Menkes, Cherien Dabis, Tyler Taormina, and Joshua Oppenheimer –signed an open letter urging the arthouse distributor and streamer to sever ties with Sequoia Capital. They also condemned Mubi's decision to partner with the firm by calling it "a total lack of accountability to the artists and communities who have helped the company flourish."

As per a report in Variety, the letter reads: "Mubi’s financial growth as a company is now explicitly tied to the genocide in Gaza, which implicates all of us that work with Mubi."

"We don’t believe an arthouse film platform can meaningfully support a global community of cinephiles while also partnering with a company invested in murdering Palestinian artists and filmmakers."

The signatories have also asked Mubi to "heed the call" made by Film Workers for Palestine to take the following three steps.

• Publicly condemn Sequoia Capital for “genocide profiteering.”

• Remove Sequoia Partner Andrew Reed from Mubi’s board of directors

• Instate an ethical policy for all future Mubi investments, and respect programming and partnerships guidelines set by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

Here's the full letter with the signatories

Dear Mubi leadership,

We write as filmmakers who have a professional relationship to Mubi to express our serious concern regarding Mubi’s decision to accept $100 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, a private equity firm that, since late 2023 has chosen to double down on investing in Israeli military technology companies with the goal of profiting from the Gazan genocide. In 2024, Sequoia heavily invested in Kela, a military tech startup founded by a former senior manager of Palantir Israel and multiple Israeli military intelligence veterans, as well as military drone manufacturer Neros, and the unmanned aerial vehicle manufacture, Mach Industries.

Mubi’s financial growth as a company is now explicitly tied to the genocide in Gaza, which implicates all of us that work with Mubi. We too believe that cinema can be powerful. And we know that we can’t always control how audiences will respond to our work, and whether or not it will move and inspire them. But we can control how our work reflects our values and commitments—ones that are wholly ignored when our work is brought into alliance with a genocide-profiteering private equity firm.

Gaza is enduring mass civilian killings, including of journalists, artists, and film workers, alongside the widespread destruction of Palestinian cultural sites and heritage. We don’t believe an arthouse film platform can meaningfully support a global community of cinephiles while also partnering with a company invested in murdering Palestinian artists and filmmakers.

We approach our work with care for the people and communities they represent, and the audiences who will watch it, because as artists we are accountable to more than the bottom line. Yet Mubi’s decision to partner with Sequoia demonstrates a total lack of accountability to the artists and communities who have helped the company flourish. We believe that it is our ethical duty to do no harm. We expect our partners, at a minimum, to refuse to be complicit in the horrific violence being waged against Palestinians.

We ask you to heed the call made by Film Workers for Palestine and take action that meaningfully responds to the artists and the audiences who are such an integral part of Mubi’s success.

Yours sincerely

Aki Kaurismäki
Radu Jude
Jessica Beshir
Joshua Oppenheimer
Robert Greene
Kazik Radwanski
Carson Lund
Michael Basta
Nate Fisher
Blake Williams
Iva Radivojevic
Nina Menkes
Ben Rivers
Bingham Bryant
Kit Zauhar
Ian Edlund
Sarah Friedland
Kathleen Chalfant
Miguel Gomes
Constance Tsang
Truong Minh Quy
Deragh Campbell
Laura Huertas
John Smith
Andrea Luka Zimmerman
Cherien Dabis
Tyler Taormina
Erik Lund
Maureen Fazendeiro
Levan Akin
Courtney Stephens
Eric Baudelaire
Camilo Restrepo
Teddy Williams
Nahuel Perez Biscayart
Jussi Vatanen
Neo Sora
Sofia Bohdan

Mubi has been facing backlash over investment from Sequoia Capital. Multiple programming partners and venues worldwide have decided to end their partnerships with the company. Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Mexico City’s Cineteca Nacional and the Cinemateca de Bogota have cut ties with Mubi. Last week the Valdivia Film Festival in Chile confirmed it wouldn’t screen any film distributed by Mubi.