Oscar award organiser the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologised for leaving out Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal's name in its response to the attack on him by Israeli settlers and his subsequent arrest on Monday.
Ballal is one of four directors of No Other Land, which documents the struggles faced by residents of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank as they try to protect their homes from Israeli settlers. The film won Best Documentary Feature at the Oscar awards earlier this month.
Following widespread criticism of the attack from the global film industry, the Academy sent out a delayed email on Wednesday to its members saying it “condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” but stopped short of naming Ballal.
The letter, signed by president Janet Yang and chief executive Bill Kramer, came a day after Ballal's Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham criticised the Academy for its silence on the attack.
But the letter's omission of Ballal's name struck a sour note, prompting 690 Academy members to put out a statement on Friday in support of Ballal. The statement's signatories included actors Mark Ruffalo and Riz Ahmed, as well as directors Ava DuVernay and Alfonson Cuaron.
“We stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank,” the statement read. “To win an Oscar is not an easy task. Most films in competition are buoyed by wide distribution and exorbitantly priced campaigns.
“For No Other Land to win an Oscar without these advantages speaks to how important the film is to the voting membership. The targeting of Ballal is not just an attack on one filmmaker – it is an attack on all those who dare to bear witness and tell inconvenient truths.
“We will continue to watch over this film team,” the statement concludes. “Winning an Oscar has put their lives in increasing danger, and we will not mince words when the safety of fellow artists is at stake.”
Later on Friday, the Academy issued a follow-up letter, apologising for its earlier statement.
“On Wednesday, we sent a letter in response to reports of violence against Oscar-winner Hamdan Ballal, co-director of No Other Land, connected to his artistic expression. We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr Ballal and the film by name,” said the letter, signed by Yang and Kramer.
“We sincerely apologise to Mr Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world. We abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances.”
Ballal and two other Palestinians were arrested by Israeli authorities on Monday evening after more than a dozen settlers attacked his home village of Susiya in Masafer Yatta. Ballal suffered injuries to his head and stomach, Abraham said.
The three were released on Tuesday afternoon from a police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. Ballal, who had bruises on his face and blood on his clothes, told reporters soldiers and settlers beat him and threatened him with guns.
“The soldiers shot three times in the air,” he said. He was blindfolded and his hands were tied while he was in detention, forced to sit under the air conditioning.
“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” co-director Basel Adra, who was at the scene, told AP. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”
No Other Land has won numerous awards since its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival last year, but has struggled to find a major distributor in the US.
Dubai film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment, which acquired the film's rights for the Mena region, is set to release it on April 1.
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