Academy faces backlash for failing to support Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker

More than 600 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have signed an open letter criticizing the academy for its lack of public support for Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, following his assault and abduction by the Israeli regime.

On Monday, Ballal’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, said in a post on X that settlers beat the Palestinian filmmaker in the West Bank in the Palestinian village of Susiya, Masafer Yatta. 

Ballal was then abducted by Israeli forces. He sustained injuries to his head and stomach. Israeli forces released him on Tuesday.

The open letter had 633 signatures by Friday afternoon, with names including Mark Ruffalo, Sandra Oh, Ava DuVernay, Penélope Cruz, Alfonso Cuaron, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Joaquin Phoenix on it.

Members added a statement to the letter condemning what happened to Ballal as well as the academy’s lack of action.

“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,” read the letter.

“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,” it added.

The members praised the film for its impact and achievement despite having fewer resources than other films with wider distribution.

“For ‘No Other Land’ to win an Oscar without these advantages speaks to how important the film is to the voting membership,” members said. “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.”

Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker under settler attack

Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal has been released after being detained by Israeli forces.

The academy members say the organization sent a statement on Wednesday with the subject line “Our Global Film Community.”

“Understandably, we are often asked to speak on behalf of the Academy in response to social, political, and economic events,” the Academy said. “In these instances, it is important to note that the Academy represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints.”

“We are, however, united in a shared belief in the importance of storytelling, in the value of empathy, and in the role of film as a catalyst,” the organization added.

However, many academy members believed that the statement “failed to mention either Ballal or the film by name, nor did it describe the events it was responding to.

“The statement by Bill Kramer and Janet Yang fell far short of the sentiments this moment calls for,” the statement read. “Therefore, we are issuing our own statement, which speaks for the undersigned members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”

Late Friday, the academy said that Kramer and Yang expressed regret for failing to “Ballal and the film by name.”

“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,” they wrote in a letter to members.

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