Update 6:55pm ET: The Academy has released a new letter to its members on March 28 co-signed by CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang apologizing for omitting “No Other Land” co-director Hamdan Ballal‘s name from their initial statement that obliquely referenced his attack by settlers in the West Bank earlier this week. IndieWire has acquired the letter.
“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,” the letter read. “We sincerely apologize 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.”
Original Story:
The Academy is under fire for its alleged lack of support for “No Other Land” co-director Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian filmmaker recently attacked and detained by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
Over 600 Academy members have signed a statement criticizing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its response. CEO Bill Kramer and Janet Yang previously sent a members-only letter March 26 condemning artist suppression, ostensibly serving as the organization’s only response to the incident involving one of two Palestinian filmmakers in the Israeli-Palestinian collective of four who directed the Best Documentary Feature Oscar winner. The attack on Ballal, who has since been freed, was shared on social media March 24.
Though the initial letter signed by Kramer and Yang said The Academy “condemns harming or suppressing artists,” it mentioned neither Ballal nor “No Other Land.” Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham, one of the co-directors of “No Other Land,” was the first to report Ballal’s arrest and subsequent release, and the first to mention that several Academy members, especially those in the Documentary Branch, had pushed the organization to make a more direct statement on the issue, but the Academy “refused.”
Now, with signatories including Mark Ruffalo, Ava DuVernay, Alfonso Cuarón, Olivia Colman, and hundreds more, that internal conflict has been made public. The statement starts by saying the Academy’s letter to members, titled “Our Global Film Community,” “fell far short of the sentiments this moment calls for. Therefore we are issuing our own statement, which speaks for the undersigned members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”
It goes on to say:
“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.
As artists, we depend on our ability to tell stories without reprisals. Documentary filmmakers often expose themselves to extreme risks to enlighten the world. 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.
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.
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. 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.”
Deadline reports that the statement, which includes signatures from members of all 19 branches of the Academy, has led to an emergency meeting of the organization’s Board of Governors on the morning of Friday, March 28.
IndieWire has reached out to the Academy for comment on its members’ public statement.
