🚨 600+ Oscar Voters SLAM Academy for Ignoring Palestinian Winner Attacked by Israeli Settlers! 🎬🔥 | AJ+ News
April 1, 2025
“It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March, and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later.”
Over 600 Oscar voters signed an open letter condemning the attack by Israeli settlers on Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of “No Other Land.” The documentary about Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank won an Oscar just weeks before Ballal was assaulted by settlers and arrested by Israeli security forces. He was released on Tuesday.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences previously issued a statement in apparent reference to the attack, but did not reference Ballal by name. The open letter signed by Academy members also called out how the documentary never received wide distribution in the U.S. despite winning the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature: “To win an Oscar is not an easy task. Most films in competition are buoyed by wide distribution and exorbitantly priced campaigns directed at voting members. For “No Other Land” to win an Oscar without these advantages speaks to how important the film is to the voting membership.”
@ajplus
#NoOtherLand #MassaferYatta #Palestine #WestBank #Israel #HamdanBallal #Oscars
English Script:
N/A
