While presenting the Oscar for best international film, Javier Bardem started his time at the podium by saying “No to war and free Palestine,” which earned a big round of applause from the audience at the March 15 awards show.
Bardem also sported a “No to war” pin and one supporting Palestine on his tuxedo lapel.
The moment follows national backlash over recent American military strikes against Iran, as well as prolonged United States intervention in the Middle East.
On the red carpet of the Emmy awards this season, Bardem spoke to Variety about his passion surrounding the topic.
“Here I am today, denouncing the genocide in Gaza,” he said. “I am talking about the IAGS, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, who study thoroughly genocide and has declared it is a genocide. That’s why we ask for a commercial and diplomatic blockade and also sanctions on Israel to stop the genocide. Free Palestine.”
In February, Bardem was one of over 100 celebrity signatories to an open letter criticizing the Berlin Film Festival for “silence” on Gaza.
“We write as film workers, all of us past and current Berlinale participants, who expect the institutions in our industry to refuse complicity in the terrible violence that continues to be waged against Palestinians,” the letter reads. “We are dismayed at the Berlinale’s involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the German state’s key role in enabling it. As the Palestine Film Institute has stated, the festival has been ‘policing filmmakers alongside a continued commitment to collaborate with Federal Police on their investigations.’”
