Miami Beach Mayor Threatens To Close Down Cinema For Showing Oscar Winner ‘No Other Land’; Director Says Banning Doc “Won’t Work” – Deadline
By Matthew Carey Documentary Editor, Awards
UPDATED with statements from O Cinema and International Documentary Association/Art House Convergence and details of meeting to vote on the cancellation of the cinema’s lease: The mayor of Miami Beach, FL is threatening to shut down an arthouse movie theater for showing the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, branding the film as “antisemitic.”
Mayor Steven Meiner issued a draft resolution calling for his city to terminate a lease agreement with O Cinema, located at Old City Hall, a property owned by the city. The resolution, to be debated at a city commission meeting Wednesday, March 19, also would eliminate about $40,000 in grants provided by Miami Beach to the nonprofit that runs the theater. O Cinema began screening No Other Land last Friday, five days after it won Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards.
The film, directed by a collective of four Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, provides a ground-level view of life for Palestinian residents of the rural Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank who live under an expulsion order by the Israel Defense Forces, which wants the land for a military training zone. The documentary shows IDF forces knocking down Palestinian homes and schools pursuant to the expulsion order, as well as violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians.
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In addition to the Oscar, the film has won more than 60 awards around the world, including the top prize for documentary at last year’s Berlin Film Festival. In an Associated Press review, critic Mark Kennedy described the film as “a piece of resistance but also humanization.” He wrote, “It is a wrenching movie to see: Soldiers, with vague permission from a court that Palestinians have no say in, push old women and children, not answering their pleas to stop and merely waving away residents whose families have lived in the region since the 1830s.”
In a newsletter distributed to his constituents, however, Meiner offered a sharply different take. Noting “I watched the film,” he wrote No Other Land “can best be described as a false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.” Meiner continued, “I am a staunch believer in free speech. But normalizing hate and then disseminating antisemitism in a facility owned by the taxpayers of Miami Beach … is unjust to the values of our city and residents and should not be tolerated.”
In a letter of March 6 to the mayor, Vivian Marthell, CEO of O Cinema, appeared to concede Meiner’s point, writing, “Due to the concerns of antisemitic rhetoric, we have decided to withdraw the film from our programming.”
But the next day, O Cinema reversed course. In a statement sent to Deadline on Thursday night, Marthell explained, “My initial reaction to Mayor Meiner’s threats was made under duress. After reflecting on the broader implications for free speech and O Cinema’s mission, I (along with the O Cinema board and staff members) agreed it was critical to screen this acclaimed film.”
Marthell’s statement added, in part, “Our decision to screen No Other Land is not a declaration of political alignment. It is a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard.
“The ability to present diverse perspectives without fear of political retribution is the cornerstone of a free and democratic society. Efforts to pressure or censor artistic expression set a dangerous precedent that threatens the creative and intellectual freedoms of all.”
At the Oscars, No Other Land received a standing ovation from the audience in the Dolby Theatre when it was announced as the winner. Filmmakers Basel Adra, who is Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, who is Israeli, spoke on behalf of the quartet of directors. “About two months ago, I became a father,” Adra said, “and my hope to my daughter [is] that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now — always fearing settlers’ violence, home demolitions and forceful displacements that my community, Masafer Yatta, is living and facing every day under the Israeli occupation. No Other Land reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades and still resist, as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.”
Abraham added, “We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other — the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end; the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7th, which must be freed.”
Deadline has reviewed a letter Meiner wrote to Marthell on March 5, in which he wrote, “The film director’s comments at the Oscars prove the antisemitic nature of the film using Jew-hatred propaganda and lies such as ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Unfortunately, Jews for thousands of years have heard this antisemitic rhetoric; I am just surprised that O Cinema, utilizing Miami Beach taxpayer funding, would willingly disseminate such hateful propaganda.”
Deadline received a statement from Abraham reacting to Meiner’s threat to shut down O Cinema. He wrote, “When the mayor uses the word antisemitism to silence Palestinians and Israelis who proudly oppose occupation and apartheid together, fighting for justice and equality, he is emptying it out of meaning. I find that to be very dangerous. Censorship is always wrong. We made this film to reach U.S. audiences from a wide variety of political views. I believe that once you see the harsh reality of occupation in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, it becomes impossible to justify it, and that’s why the mayor is so afraid of No Other Land. It won’t work. Banning a film only makes people more determined to see it.”
O Cinema has added screenings of No Other Land on March 19-20. The film, which is being self-distributed in the U.S., has made over $1 million domestically, with a worldwide total of $1.3 million.
The documentary was shot between 2019 and 2023 and completed before Hamas, which governs occupied Gaza, launched its terror attack of October 7, 2023 on Israel (Hamas does not govern the West Bank; a portion of it is ruled by the Palestinian Authority, with the rest under Israeli military and civilian control).
In his newsletter, Meiner said, “Hate under the banner of ‘culture’ is still hate; perhaps even more dangerously so. Nazi Germany used its advanced culture to disseminate and mainstream Jew hatred culminating in mass murder. Hamas and Hezbollah indoctrinate hatred to justify its attacks on Jewish civilians, including woman [sic], children and the elderly. The 9/11 terrorists were indoctrinated to hate innocent Americans who were just going to work to help feed and support their families.”
In her statement Thursday night, Marthell, the O Cinema CEO, said, “Now, we call on our friends, colleagues, and allies in the arts community to stand with us to continue to bring unrestricted and uncensored arts and dialogue to this community. Join us at the Miami Beach City Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 19, at 8:30 AM as we affirm our right to tell stories that matter.”
Here is a joint statement released Friday by the International Documentary Association and Art House Convergence:As representatives of the Art House Convergence and International Documentary Association (IDA), we find the threat made by the mayor of Miami Beach to pull the funding and lease of O Cinema gravely concerning. Programming decisions by independent film exhibitors must not suffer political interference in the form of First Amendment violations. It is doubly concerning that the documentary No Other Land, which has been critically acclaimed by the highest levels of the global film industry, including an Oscar and four awards at the 2024 IDA Documentary Awards, has triggered such a censorious response. Threats to defund cinemas and film festivals based on their programmatic content runs directly counter to the right to free speech for art, artists, and exhibitors as a whole. If these threats are carried out, it is not only filmmakers but also audiences who will suffer. Art house theaters play a critical role in our society as a vital space for free expression. They are cultural institutions where disparate ideas, perspectives, and creative visions provide audiences and communities the opportunity to engage in civil discourse around important social, political, and cultural issues. It is in the spaces of art house cinemas that we, as a society, have the chance to reflect, debate, and challenge one another in meaningful and generative ways. O Cinema’s lease from the government precisely illustrates the value of independent cinemas as public spaces, which is reflected in the many other cultural institutions in this country operating in government-owned spaces. Threatening the existence of their programming, or restricting access to films based on undue political influence or outside pressures, undermines the very essence of free speech the U.S. was founded on. Suppressing content not only denies audiences access to indispensable works, it normalizes opposition to–and even violence against–those with opposing viewpoints, rather than creating a safe space to explore areas of collective agreement. It is imperative to protect the First Amendment rights of art house cinemas and the communities they serve, ensuring they remain a sanctuary for thought-provoking, boundary-pushing content that reflects the needs of our society. To let the decision to close O Cinema stand is a direct affront to the United States’ foundational value of free speech, the constitutional rights afforded by our democracy, and the commitment public officials have made to serve their constituents and their communities. Sincerely, Dominic Asmall Willsdon, Executive Director, IDAKate Markham, Managing Director, Art House Convergence Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
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Source: http://deadline.com/2025/03/miami-beach-no-other-land-cinema-threatened-with-closure-1236326175/
