“We don’t need another blacklist.

We applaud the Toronto International Film Festival for including the Israeli film community in the Festival’s City to City program. The visiting filmmakers represent a dynamic national cinema, the best of Israel’s open, uncensored, artistic expression. Anyone who has actually seen recent Israeli cinema, movies that are political and personal, comic and tragic, often critical, knows they are in no way a propaganda arm for any government policy. Blacklisting them only stifles the exchange of cultural knowledge that artists should be the first to defend and protect. Those who refuse to see these films for themselves or prevent them from being seen by others are violating a cherished right shared by Canada and all democratic countries.”

The statement has been endorsed by:

Marty Adelstein – Producer; Dan Adler – Entrepreneur; Michael Adler – Attorney; Jonas Agin – Writer, Producer; Jason Alexander – Actor, Director; Adam Arkin – Actor, Director; Jeff Astrof – Writer, Producer; Jon Avnet – Producer, Director; Allison Band Agent; Tom Barad – Producer; Laszlo Barna - Producer; Glen Basner - Filmnation Entertainment; Lawrence Bender – Producer; Gail Berman – Producer; Howard M. Bernstein - Business Manager; Allison Binder – Attorney; Roger Birnbaum – Producer; Peter Block – Producer; Michael Borkow – Writer; Brannon Braga – Producer; Joshua Brand – Writer; David Brandes – Writer, Producer; Stewart Brookman – Attorney; Stanley M. Brooks – Producer; Dan Bucatinsky – Writer, Actor, Producer; Mark Burton – President, IndieVest Pictures; Gloria Carlin – Actress; John Carls – Producer; Lionel Chetwynd - Writer, Director; Sacha Baron Cohen –Entertainer; Etan Cohen – Writer; Manny Coto – Producer; David Cronenberg - Director; Sean Daniel – Producer;
David Diamond – Writer; Joel Fields – Writer, Producer; Richard Frankie - Television Executive; David Fury – Producer; Bob Gale - Writer, Producer; Gary Gersh – Manager; Andy Gershon – Manager; Cliff Gilbert-Lurie – Attorney; Richard Gladstein – Producer; Jonathan Glickman – President, Spyglass Entertainment; Mia Goldman – Writer, Director; Howard Gordon –Producer; Mark Gordon – Producer; Davis Guggenheim – Director; Craig Haffner – Producer; Patricia Heaton – Actor, Producer; Andrew Hersh - Literary Manager; Ken Hertz – Attorney; Jason Hoffs – Producer; David Hunt – Actor, Producer, Director; Matisyahu – Entertainer; Michael Jackson – Producer; Ellis Jacob –CEO, Cineplex; Nina Jacobson – Producer; Chip Johannessen – Producer; Nathan Kahane - President, Mandate Pictures; Marty Kaplan - Norman Lear Professor, USC Annenberg School; Evan Katz – Producer; Andrea King – Screenwriter; Barbie Kligman - Writer/Producer; Lenny Kravitz – Entertainer; Jay Kogen – Writer, Producer, Director; Brown Mandell Kogen – Writer, Producer; Eric Kranzler;  Adam Krentzman – Producer; Sherry Lansing – Philanthropist;  Lisa Kudrow – Actress; Robert Lantos -  Producer, Serendipity Point Films; Jim Leonard – Writer, Producer; Michael Levine – Partner, Goodmans LLP; Jerry Levine – Actor, Director, Producer; Art Levitt - CEO Animation Lab; Jon Liebman – Chief Executive Officer, Brillstein Entertainment Partners; Jonathan Littman – President, Jerry Bruckheimer Television; David Lonner – Manager; Doug Mankoff – Producer; Dan McDermott – Writer; Neal H. Moritz – Producer; Robert S. Nathan – Producer; Stephen Nemeth – Producer; David Nevins – President, Imagine Television; Guy Oseary – Manager, Producer; Marc Platt – Producer; Natalie Portman – Actress; Bruce M. Ramer – Attorney;  Paul Reiser – Actor, Writer; Ivan Reitman –Producer; David Renzer - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Universal Music Publishing Group; Jacob Richler – Writer; Noah Richler - Writer & Broadcaster; Saul Rubinek –Actor, Director; Doug Robinson – Producer; Shep Rosenman – Attorney; Zvi Howard Rosenman – Producer; Michael Rotenberg - Manager, Producer;  Patricia Rozema – Director, Producer, Writer; David Sacks – Writer, Producer; Ken Sanzel - Writer, Director, Producer; Jerry Seinfeld – Entertainer; Jonathan Shikora – Attorney; Roger L. Simon – Screenwriter; Jane Sindell – Producer; Ed Solomon - Writer, Producer; Cheryl Snow – Attorney; Darren Star – Writer, Producer; Danny Sussman – Talent Manager; Nina Tassler – President, CBS Entertainment; Tom Teicholz – Producer; Michael Tolkin – Writer, Director; Jessica Tuchinsky – Producer; Jon Turteltaub –Director, Producer; George F. Walker –Writer; David Weber – Attorney; Robert Weide – Producer, Director, Writer; Bernie Weinraub – Writer; David N. Weiss - Writer, Vice President - Writers Guild of America, West; David Weissman – Writer; Sandy Wernick - Partner, Brillstein Entertainment Partners; Amotz Zakai – Producer; Moses Znaimer - Media Innovator; Ed Zwick – Director.

This list was compiled by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

To read statements issued last week from David Cronenberg, Minnie Driver, Robert Lantos, Ivan Reitman, Norman Jewison, Simcha Jacobovici and Saul Rubinek go to: http://jewishtoronto.com/page.aspx?id=206421

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