Nearly 70 Palestinian filmmakers signed on to a letter accusing Hollywood of “racism and censorship,” which they say has enabled devastation in Gaza since Oct. 7.
The letter was signed by two-time Oscar nominee Hany Abu Assad and director Elia Suleiman, as well as award-winning filmmakers Mai Masri, Najwa Najjar, Michel Khleifi, Farah Nabulsi, among others.
The group of filmmakers thanked the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), for “standing up to pressure and insisting on freedom of expression,” for refusing to rescind Bisan Owda’s 2024 News & Documentary Emmy nomination after her alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, were revealed.
The documentary “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive,” chronicles the Palestinian journalist’s life as she and her family flee from Israeli military force in the aftermath of Oct. 7. However, her nomination caused controversy, with pro-Israel groups calling for the nomination to be revoked given her alleged affiliation with a terror organization.
In response to the calls, NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp released a statement saying that the organization would not rescind the nomination and has been “unable to corroborate,” reports of Owda’s “more contemporary or active involvement,” with the PFLP organization.
“Most critically, the content submitted for award consideration was consistent with competition rules and NATAS policies,” Sharp said. “Accordingly, NATAS has found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgment of the independent journalists who reviewed the material.”
In the letter, the filmmakers add that “Trying to censor Bisan’s voice is only the latest repressive attempt to deny Palestinians the right to reclaim our narrative, share our history, and in this case bring attention to the atrocities our people are facing in the hopes that we can bring an end to them.”
“We well understand the power of image and cinema, and for far too long we have been outraged at the inhumanity and racism shown by some in the Western entertainment industry towards our people, even during this most difficult of times,” the group continued.
The filmmakers added that they have attempted to provide Western entertainment with “alternative narratives, depictions and images to reverse the stereotypical, dehumanizing “worthless, disposable beings” image which enables the whitewashing and/or justification of the crimes perpetrated for decades against Palestinians,” but feel as though they constantly have to face censorship as a result.
“We wholeheartedly welcomed the nomination of Bisan Owda’s film for an Emmy as an indication that, after so many years of Israel’s apartheid and settler-colonial rule over the Palestinian people, the relentless, decades-old dehumanization of Palestinians on small and big screens in the U.S., in Hollywood in particular, was beginning to give way to a more ethical stance,” the letter continues. “The censorship attempt against the film, though, was a reality check of sorts.”
The letter concluded with a call for the international filmmaking community to “speak out against this genocide and the erasure, racism and censorship that enable it; to do everything humanly possible to stop and end complicity with this unspeakable horror; and to stand against working with production companies that are deeply complicit in dehumanizing Palestinians, or whitewashing and justifying Israel’s crimes against us.”
“This has to stop. Now,” the letter reads.
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