Israeli director Yuval Abraham has spoken out against a Florida mayor’s attempt to shut down a local cinema after it screened his Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which focuses on Palestinian displacement in the West Bank.
He stated, “Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.”
Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner has drafted a resolution to end the city’s lease agreement with O Cinema, an independent nonprofit cinema, and to withdraw $40,000 in grant funding that was previously promised to the organization.
Advertisement A false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.
In a newsletter sent to residents on Tuesday, Meiner criticized No Other Land, calling it
He also accused the film of “normalizing hate and … disseminating antisemitism.”
Earlier, Meiner had asked O Cinema to cancel its planned screenings of the documentary, pointing to objections from Israeli and German officials.
Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist and one of the four directors of the documentary, who are from both Israel and Palestine, released a statement to Deadline on Thursday.
When the mayor uses the word antisemitism to silence Palestinians and Israelis who proudly oppose occupation and apartheid together, fighting for justice and equality, he is emptying it out of meaning. I find that to be very dangerous. Censorship is always wrong. We made this film to reach US audiences from a wide variety of political views. I believe that once you see the harsh reality of occupation in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, it becomes impossible to justify it, and that’s why the mayor is so afraid of No Other Land. It won’t work. Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.
Abraham said
Meiner’s newsletter stated that O Cinema’s CEO, Vivian Marthell, initially agreed to remove the film from the schedule due to “concerns of antisemitic rhetoric.” However, Meiner claimed that she changed her mind the next day. The screenings quickly sold out, and the cinema added more showings in March.
Our decision to screen No Other Land is not a declaration of political alignment. It is, however, a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard.
Marthell told the Miami Herald
Miami Beach commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez said she agreed with the mayor’s criticism of the film but warned against a “kneejerk reaction” that might lead to “costly legal battles.” She also acknowledged O Cinema’s “longstanding commitment to the Jewish community.”
The documentary, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, focuses on destroying Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank and tells the story of the unexpected friendship between Abraham and Palestinian activist Basel Adra, who co-directed the film.
No Other Land is being self-distributed in the U.S. because no distributors picked it up, even after it won multiple awards and received an Oscar nomination.
“We were told that people were afraid” to distribute a film critical of the Israeli government during the war with Gaza, Abraham previously told The Guardian. However, No Other Land was filmed in the West Bank, not Gaza, and was completed before Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack.
Meiner’s proposal to terminate the cinema’s lease is scheduled for a commission vote next Wednesday.
Source: The Guardian