“Road Movie,” a six-screen video installation documenting apartheid in Palestine by Elle Flanders and Tamira Sawatzky of Public Studio, will have its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, 8-18 September 2011. Read more about Video installation documenting Israeli apartheid to premiere at Toronto festival 

Traditional jazz and blues band from New Orleans, Tuba Skinny, cancels show in Israel after requests by BDS groups to honor PACBI’s call for a culturall boycott of Israel. Read more about Tuba Skinny cancels show at jazz festival in Israel 

PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, released a hard-hitting statement demanding that international artists, performers and academics “refrain from undermining our boycott principles.” Read more about PACBI statement: On BDS bashers and their search for fig leaves 

Someone once said that “punk rock is dead.” Alas, another nail in the coffin was hammered in on Tuesday, when punk rock legend and former frontman of the anti-imperialist, anti-corporate San Francisco-based band Dead Kennedys, Jello Biafra, decided to go ahead with a planned gig in Tel Aviv despite pressure on him to respect and honor the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).  Read more about Jello Biafra bucks international BDS call, will play show in Tel Aviv 

Fifty-one Canadian filmmakers issued a letter last week to the co-chairs of the Hot Docs documentary film festival to protest its partnership with the Israeli organization CoPro Documentary Marketing Foundation. According to a press release issued today, “The funders of CoPro include the Israel Film Council, an official part of the Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sports, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Golan Heights Winery, which operates illegally in the occupied Syrian Golan heights.” Read more about 51 Canadian filmmakers protest festival's normalization with Israel 

Earlier this month, activists with the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee scored an important victory in the cultural and academic boycott movement. Hip-hop artist Marvin Casey from Universal Beatz was disinvited to perform at Washington University in St. Louis, following revelations that his dance troupe is sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel.  From their press release: Read more about Cultural boycott success in St. Louis