More than 600 members have signed an open letter denouncing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “lack of support” for Hamdan Ballal, the Oscar-winning documentarian who was beten and arrested Monday by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
The letter noted that Academy president Janet Yang and CEO Bill Kramer “fell far short” with their statement Wednesday, which was apparently emailed to members under the subject line, “Our Global Film Community.” The statement didn’t mention Ballal or his film by name.
His 2024 documentary “No Other Land” chronicled the ongoing eviction of Palestinians from their West Bank homes and was co-directed with Basel Adra, a fellow Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary earlier this year. “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 letter said at the outset. “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 continued. “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.”
Signatories include actors Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem, John Cusack and Susan Sarandon, as well as award-winning directors Alfonso Cuaron and Jonathan Glazer, who condemned Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza during his own Oscars speech in 2024.
Ballal was severely beaten Monday by Israeli settlers before the military detained him, two of his fellow directors and other witnesses told The Associated Press, an American news ageny. Ballal told the outlet following his release Tuesday that he was beaten by Israeli soldiers during his captivity. “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,” the open letter stated. “We will continue to watch over this film team and we will not mince words when the safety of a fellow artist is at stake.”