Turkey’s Cinema and Broadcasting Workers Union has urged global streaming platform MUBI to sever ties with US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, accusing the investor of financing Israel’s military operations and what it called a “genocide” in Gaza.
Sequoia led a $100 million investment in London-based MUBI in May. Reports later linked the firm to Israeli defense technology companies, including Kela, a start-up founded by former Israeli intelligence officers that develops a “battlefield operating system” integrating artificial intelligence and commercial technologies for military use.
In a statement posted on X, the union said: “We, as workers and stakeholders of cinema and television in Türkiye, do not accept that MUBI — an entity we have supported both materially and morally since its founding, and whose existence we consider important for the independent cinema — shares the visibility it has gained through our films with a company that finances the genocide and war taking place in Gaza. Remaining silent is taking sides.”
MUBI'ye açık mektup:
Filistin İçin Sinema Emekçileri'ne (Film Workers For Palestine) Türkiye'den destek için hazırlanan imza kampanyasına Sinema TV Sendikası olarak imzacı olduk. pic.twitter.com/1fcwOFAFRT
— Sinema TV Sendikası (@sinematvsen) August 11, 2025
The call has been endorsed by 400 film critics, actors, directors and screenwriters, including directors Altan Dönmez, Belmin Söylemez, Ceylan Özgün Özçelik, Emin Alper, Pelin Esmer and Zeynep Dadak; actors Arzu Gamze Kılınç, Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, Halil Babür and Onur Saylak; and film critics Aslı Ildır, Evrim Kaya and Fırat Yücel.
The protest follows growing criticism from MUBI subscribers, film enthusiasts and industry figures. In July 38 filmmakers, including Aki Kaurismäki, Joshua Oppenheimer and Levan Akın, signed an open letter urging MUBI to end the partnership and “not be complicit” in what they also described as genocide in Gaza.
The protest has already had consequences: Festivals and cultural institutions including the Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts, Mexico’s Cineteca Nacional, Colombia’s Cinemateca de Bogotá and the Melbourne International Film Festival have ended collaborations with MUBI. Chile’s Valdivia Film Festival has also dropped MUBI titles from its lineup.
MUBI has rejected the criticism, saying the views of individual investors do not reflect the company’s position, and declined to comment on the open letter. MUBI is owned by Efe Çakarel, a Turkish entrepreneur, founder and CEO of the company.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the death of 1,206 people and the taking of some 250 hostages.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, the Israeli military has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 142,000 since October 7, 2023.
Two prominent human rights organizations in Israel last month joined a number of international rights organizations, UN human rights experts and scholars in accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel released separate reports based on studies of the past 21 months of conflict, saying Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and that the country’s Western allies have a legal and moral duty to stop it.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is also examining a case brought by South Africa alleging that Israeli forces are committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.