A Melbourne cinema has cancelled a fundraising screening of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which highlights the displacement of Palestinians by Israelis. The cancellation happened after the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA), which organized the event, said the cinema received threats.
The JCA had arranged to show the film at Classic Cinema in Elsternwick on May 1. The screening was to be followed by a discussion featuring Palestinian and Israeli speakers. One of the film’s directors had also prepared a special message for the audience.
Advertisement The goal of the event was to raise money to support those affected by settler violence in Masafer Yatta, a region in the southern West Bank.
Although the event hadn’t been widely promoted before being cancelled, tickets recently went on sale via a Humanitix event page.
Organiser Sophia Kagan said the cinema called her on Wednesday to let her know the event was cancelled. She said the cinema mentioned receiving 20 complaints and threats in just one day, along with warnings about planned protests on the night of the screening.
The screening was set for the same day as the release of the next Marvel movie, and Kagan said the cinema was worried about the safety of both its staff and audience members.
Kagan said she was worried about the threats and asked Classic Cinema for more information about the emails to check if they should be shared with the authorities.
Guardian Australia reached out to Classic Cinema for a statement. Booking records seen by Guardian Australia show the event was confirmed last month.
As of Thursday afternoon, the film was still listed on the cinema’s website, but no screening time was shown. The Humanitix ticket page had been taken down.
Kagan said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.
What does that say about freedom of expression in Australia, that an Oscar-winning film made by an Israeli-Palestinian collective, which is being screened in Israel, is censored in such a blatant way? I think that Jewish and non-Jewish residents in my neighbourhood are entitled to see this film … I find any sort of threats and complaints and opposition to the screening quite extraordinary, and I think that the fact that the cinema caved so quickly to these complaints … That’s a terrible precedent.
The organisers told Guardian Australia that a new screening has been scheduled at the Palace Cinema in Brighton Bay on the same date.
While cinemas in the United States have faced backlash for showing the film, this seems to be the first publicly known case of such alleged targeting in Australia. Last month, the film’s co-director, Hamdan Ballal, was attacked by settlers and detained by the Israeli military.
Source: TheGuardian