Mike Leigh is a world-renowned British Jewish filmmaker, playwright, and theatre director. A multi-award winner at Cannes (Palme d’Or) and Venice (Golden Lion), he is a leading figure in British realism.
Leigh is famous for his unique improvisational method, allowing actors to build characters deeply over months of rehearsals. Masterpieces such as Secrets & Lies, Naked, and Vera Drake profoundly explore the moral struggles of ordinary people under societal pressures. As a Jewish artist, his work is imbued with deep empathy for the marginalized and oppressed. His artistic achievement lies not only in cinematic innovation but in his persistence in revealing the “truths” ignored by society.
In protest against Israel’s proposed “loyalty oath” bill (requiring non-Jewish citizens to swear fealty to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state”), he cancelled his high-profile trip to teach at Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film School. He stated clearly that as an artist, he could not maintain “business as usual” while occupation and discriminatory policies persisted.
He is a founding signatory of Artists for Palestine UK, publicly pledging not to accept invitations funded by Israeli state institutions until Israel complies with international law and recognizes Palestinian rights.
As a long-term patron of the PSC, he utilizes his prestige to bolster fundraising and advocacy. Between 2023 and 2026, he has repeatedly signed open letters condemning military actions in Gaza and the collective punishment of civilians.
He has authored numerous public letters to the BBC and major theaters protesting the censorship or defunding of artists due to their pro-Palestine stances, arguing that stripping Palestinians of their cultural narrative is an ideological extension of the occupation.
When a band ignored the suffering of Palestinians and went to perform in Israel, he immediately wrote an open letter, in which he wrote: “As the lights go out in Gaza and Palestinian cancer patients die because they are denied travel permits by Israel, while a Palestinian poet in Israel lives under house arrest for a poem she wrote on Facebook, while a young circus performer from the West Bank languishes in administrative detention without charge or trial – Thom Yorke speaks loftily about ‘crossing borders’ and ‘freedom of expression’. One has to ask, freedom for whom exactly?”