Academy Apologizes For Not Voicing Support For ‘No Other Land’ Co-Director Hamdan Ballal After Attack And Arrest In The West Bank
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has issued an apology to its members for not immediately voicing support for Hamdan Ballal, the co-director of ‘No Other Land,’ following his assault and arrest in his hometown, Susiya, located in the West Bank.
This incident came to light when Yuval Abraham, the Israeli co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary and one of Ballal's collaborators, shared on X (previously known as Twitter) that Israeli settlers had attacked Ballal. Ballal was later detained by Israeli military personnel. Abraham reported that Ballal was released the next day but suffered injuries to his head and stomach.
In response to the incident, Academy heads Bill Kramer and Janet Yang initially released a statement on Wednesday that was non-committal, mentioning that the incident might elicit "many unique viewpoints" among Academy members and conspicuously omitted Ballal’s name. This response drew significant criticism from the Oscars voting community, with over 600 members voicing their disapproval of the Academy’s response, and several members of the documentary branch who expressed disappointment over the lack of direct support for Ballal.
Signatories also included Mark Ruffalo, Ava DuVernay, Alfonso Cuarón, and Olivia Colman.
Addressing the backlash, Kramer and Yang released a subsequent statement on Friday, directly addressing the earlier omission. They expressed regret over not mentioning Ballal or the film specifically, acknowledging; “On Wednesday, we sent a letter in response to reports of violence against Oscar winner Hamdan Ballal, co-director of ‘No Other Land,’ connected to his artistic expression. We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name.”
They concluded with a clear condemnation, stating; “We sincerely apologize 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. We abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances.”
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