Academy apologizes for the initial declaration after attack on Hamdan Ballal: NPR

The Academy of Arts and Cinema Sciences published a statement to its members on Friday, apologizing for not having expressed support for the Palestinian filmmaker Oscar Hamdan Ballal.

Ballal, who won this year’s documentary feature film, the Academy Prize for having co-directed the film No other land Regarding the difficulties of life under Israeli occupation, said that it was attacked on Monday by Israeli settlers. He was then arrested by the Israeli army. The Israeli authorities released the director the next day, saying that Ballal had been detained for launching stones. The filmmaker and witnesses deny this accusation.

The Academy’s initial statement in response to the alleged attack, sent on Wednesday to around 11,000 members, did not include the name of Ballal or the title of its film.

Co-signed by the CEO of Academy, Bill Kramer, and President Janet Yang, Wednesday’s declaration took the floor in generalities, such as “the Academy condemns or suppressing artists for their work or their points of view” and “we deeply believe in the ability of the film to be illuminated, to provoke thought, and bridge in the divisions by offering a window in various human experiences”.

The update of Kramer and Yang, sent on Friday and shared by the academy’s press office on Saturday by e-mail with NPR, was more explicit:

“We regret not directly recognizing Mr. Ballal and the film by name,” said. “We sincerely apologize to Mr. Ballal and all the artists who did not feel taken care of by our previous declaration and want to clearly indicate that the Academy condemns violence of this kind all over the world.”

The apologies appeared after a wave of online demonstrations against the academy – first for not responding to the Ballal attack, then not to respond adequately.

“Unfortunately, the American Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, refused to publicly support Hamdan Ballal when he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers,” wrote No other land Co-director Yuval Abraham on Wednesday, before Kramer and Yang published their first declaration.

“Several members of the American Academy – in particular in the documentary branch – pushed a declaration, but it was finally refused. We were told that because other Palestinians had been beaten in the attack of the colonists, he could be considered as unrelated to the film, so they did not feel any need to respond,” wrote Abraham.

Friday, an initial statement by Kramer and Yang, a large group of members of the Academy launched a letter of protest. Among the signatories, who had exceeded 800 at the time of the editorial staff, were A-visons, notably Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Colman, Steve Buscemi and America Ferrera.

“Bill Kramer’s statement and Janet Yang fell away from the feelings of this moment,” said the letter of protest over signatures. “Consequently, we publish our own declaration, which speaks of the undersigned members of the Academy of Arts and Cinema Sciences.”

In an email on Saturday, the Academy declared at the NPR its updated apologies to appoint Ballal and that its film was already in preparation before the so signed protest petition, but that the board of directors of 55 members had to meet before it could not be published, requiring more time.

The incident involving Ballal highlights explosions of violence in the West Bank in the West Bank. The attacks on the Palestinians have increased since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October 2023.