Academy Apologies After Over 600 Oscar Member Condemns Muted Response To Ballal's Arrest

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors had issued an apology to Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” following a wave of outrage from over 600 Oscar voters, including prominent figures, who signed an open letter criticizing the Academy for its muted response.

“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,” reads the letter. “We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name.”

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Further, the Academy Chief Executive Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang expressed their apology to Ballal and all artists who felt unsupported. “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.”

Actors Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, Joaquin Phoenix, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, and Susan Sarandon, and “Zone of Interest” filmmaker Jonathan Glazer were among the letter’s Oscar-winning signatories.

Ballal was detained by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and was arrested by Israeli soldiers weeks after winning an Oscar for the documentary “No Other Land.” The documentary focuses on settler violence against Palestinians. The Academy had failed to directly condemn the attack on one of its honorees, instead releasing a statement against “harming or suppressing artists for their work.” However, the statement did not name Ballal or specify the attack itself.

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“It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first week of March, and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later,” the open letter by Academy members read.

The open letter also called out how the documentary never received wide distribution in the U.S. despite winning the award for Best Documentary Feature.