The 2024 documentary film No Other Land caused quite a political stir upon its release due to its unflattering depiction of the Israeli military’s forceful displacement of a Palestinian community in the West Bank to use its buildings for military training. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature a couple of weeks ago, no major American distributor picked it up to show in US theaters. Nevertheless, a handful of independent theaters have screened it for local audiences. One such theater is the O Cinema in Miami Beach, Florida.
However, Miami Beach’s Jewish mayor, Steven Meiner, called the film one-sided and “egregiously antisemitic” (even though it was a collaborative effort by two Palestinians and two Israelis) and threatened to defund the O Cinema and cancel its lease if they continued screening it, which would effectively evict the proprietors from the building. The mayor’s move prompted widespread backlash by hundreds of filmmakers, activists, and members of the local Miami community, who saw the threat as a clear violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Eventually, after a majority of Miami Beach’s city commissioners voted to oppose the eviction, the mayor withdrew his resolution, allowing O Cinema to continue screening No Other Land.
Censorship vs. Freedom of Speech
According to The Guardian, after seeing No Other Land, Miami Beach mayor Steve Meiner wrote a letter to O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell calling the film “’one-sided,’ ‘inaccurate,’ ‘antisemitic’ and a ‘propaganda attack’ on the Jewish people,” demanding that the theater cease screening it. While Marthell initially agreed to stop playing the film, she quickly reversed course after discussing the matter with the theater’s board, explaining to NPR that “we all agreed that it was really important to show this critical film. It’s an award-winning film. It’s on a mission.” The theater’s refusal to pull the film led to Meiner drafting a resolution that would cancel the theater’s lease on the city-owned building, while also deducting around $40,000 from the city’s funds for the theater.
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This resolution provoked strong backlash both within and outside the Miami community, with many arguing that it violates the theater’s freedom of speech rights. Furthermore, many prominent Jewish figures disagreed with Meiner’s allegations of antisemitism. For instance, Jewish film director and Miami native Billy Corben refuted Meiner’s attacks on No Other Land as “identity politics” and argued that his attempt to censor the film “goes against American and Jewish values.”
Corben joined over 750 fellow filmmakers (including Oscar-winning Moonlight director and fellow Miami native Bary Jenkins) in signing an open letter to Meiner declaring their opposition to his resolution. Legal organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Coalition Against Censorship also came to the theater’s defense, with ACLU Florida director Daniel Tilley warning, “If the city of Miami Beach adopts this resolution, they will be breaking the law.”
Shortly after Meiner introduced his resolution to the City Commission, a meeting was held in Miami Beach’s City Hall, in which members of the public were given the chance to speak in favor of or against passing it. The majority of the speakers opposed O Cinema’s eviction, and the seven-member Commission ultimately voted against the resolution, with Commissioner Alex Fernandez declaring, “The first amendment is clear. Government must never censor artistic expression, even when it is controversial or deeply offensive.”
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Meiner agreed to drop the resolution, and instead deferred a second resolution requesting that the theater “showcase films that highlight a fair and balanced viewpoint of the current war” (to which one of the commissioners replied that he should drop both resolutions). In the meantime, O Cinema continued holding screenings of No Other Land — all of which were sold out.
While No Other Land still has not been picked up by any major American distributors or streaming services, many local independent theaters around the country are currently holding screenings. If you’re in the UK, you can stream the film here. Check out the trailer below:
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
