Yuval Abraham, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, has hit out at a letter the Academy sent to members after he previously criticised the Oscar body for not commenting publicly on the arrest and detention of Palestinian colleague Hamdan Ballal.
After Abraham posted his disappointment with the Academy on X earlier this week for not responding with a statement on Ballal’s arrest, despite similar moves by the Berlinale, CPH:DOX, International Documentary Fund, and Channel 4, Academy chairman Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang reached out to members on Wednesday.
”After our criticism, the academy’s [sic] leaders sent out this email to members explaining their silence on Hamdan’s assault: they need to respect “unique viewpoints”,” Abraham wrote.
The letter said while the Academy “condemns harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints”, it implied it did not comment publicly on “social, political, and economic events” despite being often asked to do so. “In these instances, it is important to note that the Academy represents close to 11,000 global members with many unique viewpoints.”
Abraham took issue with the fact that the letter did not mention Ballal by name. “Compare this,” he wrote, “which didn’t even name Hamdan, to the academy’s [sic] rightfully strong position when it’s the Iranian government oppressing filmmakers.” This was in reference to a statement by the Academy years ago that expressed support for detained Iranian filmmakers including Jafar Panahi.
Ballal was released on Tuesday, one day after he had been attacked by settlers at his village in the Masafer Yatta community on the West Bank, and arrested and detained by Israeli police.
Abraham, Ballal, Basel Adra, and Rachel Szor are the Palestinian-Israeli collective that co-directed No Other Land, which won the documentary feature Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2. The film shows Palestinians in Masafer Yatta attempting to live their lives while Israeli bulldozers destroy homes.
The Academy had not replied for comment at time of writing.
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