Academy apologises for ignoring No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal despite Oscar win

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expressed regret for supporting Palestinian Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal, who has been detained.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has issued an apology amid backlash for not standing by detained Palestinian Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal – who was recently detained by Israeli settlers.

Hamdan claimed earlier this week that Israeli settlers had attacked him, detained him, and later released. The Academy responded to the incident earlier this week, but it was not directly named, which led to much decry. A sizable group of nearly 700 voters, including some well-known faces, criticized the organization in an open letter.

Initially, on Wednesday, the academy’s reaction did not individually acknowledge Ballal, but it has since made amends with an apology as per the BBC.

“We sincerely apologise to Mr Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported by our previous statement and want to make it clear that the Academy condemns violence of this kind anywhere in the world,” they announced. “We abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances.”

In an open letter, actors, producers, and documentary makers included those who wrote critics of the academy’s original position.

The letter criticised “It is inadmissible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March and then fail to defend its filmmakers a few weeks later.”

Additionally, it criticized the filmmaker’s “brutal assault and unlawful detention,” according to the Academy Award-winning filmmaker.

Ballal’s attack is not just directed at one filmmaker; it also targets everyone who dares testify and deliver inconvenient truths, the letter continued.

“We’ll keep watching this film crew.” We will not mince words when fellow artists’ safety is in danger because winning an Oscar has put their lives in greater danger.

A-listers endorsed the letter, including Penelope Cruz, Olivia Colman, Emma Thompson, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix, and Mark Ruffalo.

Two of his fellow directors and other onlookers were involved in Ballal’s ordeal, which included settlers attacking him in the occupied West Bank before his arrest by the Israeli military.

Basel Adra, a co-director, reported seeing Ballal’s arrest while observing soldiers escorting him into a military vehicle while handcuffed and blindfolded outside his home.

Adra reported that the villagers entered shortly after the locals’ daily Ramadan fast.

Every day since the Oscars, we have been back in the studio because something is going on. They might be retaliating against us by making the movie with this. According to Adra, it “feels like a punishment” for the Associated Press.

Attorney Lea Tsemel, who is in charge of their case, reported that Ballal and other three Palestinians were detained in the village of Susiya.

The Israeli military claimed to have detained three Palestinians who had been accused of throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers and one Israeli national who had been involved in what they called a “violent confrontation” between Israelis and Palestinians, in contrast to the AP’s witness accounts.

Source: Mirror