Dee Jefferson
The Guardian / March 28, 2025
Yuval Abraham criticised the Academy’s statement defending its silence after Jewish settlers attacked his co-director Hamdan Ballal.
[According to The New York Times, despite still not having a US distributor, No Other Land is now playing on 130 US screens, has earned $2 million at the box office and ranks 14th among currently showing US films; NPK eds.]
The Israeli director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land has condemned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its response to a violent attack on his Palestinian co-director Hamdan Ballal, who was beaten by Jewish settlers and detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank on Monday.
Earlier this week, Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham criticised the Academy for failing to publicly speak out in support of Ballal. Now he has criticised a statement issued by the Academy to its members on Wednesday, in which it appeared to defend its silence.
The statement, signed by the Academy chief executive, Bill Kramer, and president Janet Yang, did not refer to the attack or mention Ballal or his documentary.
“The Academy condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints,” the statement read. “We are living in a time of profound change, marked by conflict and uncertainty – across the globe, in the US and within our own industry. Understandably, we are often asked to speak on behalf of the Academy in response to social, political and economic events. In these instances, it is important to note that the Academy represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints.”
Posting a screenshot of the full statement on X on Thursday, Abraham criticised the Academy for failing to name Ballal.
“After our criticism, the Academy’s leaders sent out this email to members explaining their silence on Hamdan’s assault: they need to respect ‘unique viewpoints’,” he wrote.
Abraham compared it to a “rightfully strong” statement made by the Academy in 2011 when the organisation condemned the arrest of six Iranian filmmakers by the Iranian government, including the detention of director Jafar Panahi.
The Academy did not respond to a request for comment from The Guardian.
Ballal, one of the documentary’s four directors – all from Israel and Palestine – was released from Israeli detention on Tuesday.
He told The Guardian that he “thought I was going to die” when Israeli soldiers had aided the settlers who attacked him on Monday outside his home in the village of Susya, in the Masafer Yatta area of the West Bank.
Ballal told The Guardian he was beaten while in detention.
“It was a revenge for our movie,” he said. “I heard the voices of the soldiers, they were laughing about me … I heard [the word] ‘Oscar’.”
No Other Land won the Oscar for best documentary less than a month ago, at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
Earlier this week Basel Adra, another of No Other Land’s directors, told The Guardian he thought the film’s international recognition might have spurred escalating settler violence in Susya.
“Palestinians in the village have been under physical attack by settlers almost daily. The settlers’ violence is increasing here. Maybe it’s a revenge for the movie and the Oscar,” he said.
Dee Jefferson – Arts journalist, critic, writer
