The Florida city mayor who wanted to terminate the lease of an arthouse cinema and withold funding after it screened Oscar winner No Other Land has scrapped his proposal at a council meeting on Wednesday.
Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner argued to terminate O Cinema’s lease and withhold city funding after describing the documentary to local residents as “a false, one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our city and residents”.
However Meiner withdrew the proposal at what the Miami Herald described as a “raucous” Miami Beach City Commission meeting “where the vast majority of attendees opposed Meiner’s proposal”.
He said he had proposed the measure amid rising antisemitism, adding: “I legitimately viewed this as a public safety threat.” The mayor said he would defer an alternative proposal to show films that highlight “a fair and balanced viewpoint”, although others at the meeting asked him to drop that proposal as well.
O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell told the Herald: “It has been very emotional. I’m feeling supported by the community I serve and feel supported by my cultural colleagues, and I feel supported from the commission that feels and understands the right to free speech.”
Earlier this week Oscar winners Laura Poitras and Alex Gibney were among hundreds of signatories to an open letter urging Meiner not to proceed.
No Other Land is co-directed by the Palestinian-Israeli collective of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor and depicts the demolition by Israel of Palestinian settlements in the Masafer Yatta region of the West Bank. O Cinema screenings today and tomorrow are sold out.
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