A series of documentary projections “No other land“In a screen theater on screen screen in Miami Beach has become a controversy point.
The mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, sent a letter dated March 5 to the C Cinema before the projections imploring the organization not to project the film, which recently won the Academy Prize for the documentary. The mayor's letter called him “a unilateral propaganda attack against the Jewish people who are not in accordance with the values of our city and our residents”.
When the theater decided to project the film despite its demonstrations, Meiner presented an official resolution to the City Commission to interrupt the financing of the theater grants and, more crucial, to end its lease of the current location of the theater on the property belonging to the city.
But in an unexpected turn, the mayor withdrew his own resolution during a meeting of the city commission on Wednesday morning before a vote.
“I considered this as a public security measure,” said Meiner at the meeting by explaining his initial response.
Meiner added: “I am also very appreciated by my colleagues. I felt that we were in unity. Unity does not mean that we agree on each political decision. Unity means that we are looking for what is best for our city and our community. You know, some people joke.
The mayor's actions brought an intense media examination to the fate of Florida Theater. During a press conference on Tuesday, Vivian Martel, managing director of O Cinema, said: “O Cinema will not be reduced to silence and our community either. This is more than a simple film. This is the fundamental right of freedom of expression, artistic integrity and the role of independent cinemas in our community. ”
In an interview last week, Kareem Tabsch, co-founder of O Cinema and president of the board of directors, said about the mayor's actions: “It's shocking. I don't even know what other words use. for almost 15 years. »»
O Cinema has occupied its current space since 2019 and Tabsch said that it did not think that the organization would be able to find another place in Miami Beach.
“It violates the 1st amendment,” said Erwin ChemerinskyDean of the Faculty of Law of the Berkeley. “The city, generally the government, cannot react to speech according to its content. Does it mean when the city could say that your films have a liberal bias, so we will remove your ability to show it?” Or your films criticize or praise Donald Trump, so we will remove your license to do it?
Made by a collective of two Israeli filmmakers and two Palestinian filmmakers, “no other land” captures the difficulties of daily life in an area of the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta, where Israeli settlers and soldiers are trying to force the inhabitants of their houses and their land. The film also explores the budding friendship between two of the filmmakers, Basel Adra, a Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli.
The interior of cinema O in Miami Beach.
(Antoine Heusian cinema)
Tabsch is also a filmmaker who co-directed “Lots of love: the legend of Walter Mercado,” Which was created at the Film Film Sundance 2020. Her co -director on this film, Cristina Costantini, with producer Alex Fumero, organized an open letter to the city of Miami Beach supported by O Cinema who, Tuesday, had more than 750 signatures, including filmmakers Michael Moore, Barry Jenkins, Phil Lord, Laura Poitras, Ezra Edelman, Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyi and Alex Gibney.
“Especially in a city of refugees like Miami, many people have escaped dictatorships and strong men who closed dissident opinions,” Costantini said in an interview on Monday. “And so to see this happens, there is really shocking. And therefore everything we can do to fight it, I think that is what we have to do.”
“It's a huge step in the wrong direction for this city,” said Fumero last week. “He has more important implications that I think (the mayor) does not realize him. And that will harm not only a cinema, but that will harm the inhabitants of Miami.”
Meiner had declared “no other land” as “deliciously anti -Semitic” in a newsletter he published last week. Several attempts to contact the mayor have not been answered, including the specific question of the place where he watched the film.
In a statement, Abraham said: “When the mayor uses the word” anti -Semitism “to silence the Palestinians and the Israelis who proudly oppose occupation and apartheid, fighting for justice and equality, he empties the meaning. I find it very dangerous.
“Censorship is still wrong,” said Abraham's statement. “We made this film to reach the public of a wide variety of political opinions. I believe that once you see the harsh reality of the occupation in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, it becomes impossible to justify it, and that is why the mayor is not so afraid of “no other land”. It will not work.
O Cinema was represented in the acts of the American American Liberties Union of Florida and the Community Justice Project.
“I think it is regrettable that the lesson that some politicians seem to take from our current moment is that they can take all the measures without law that they like without any consequences,” said Daniel Tilley, legal director of Florida ACLU.
“It is not for me to tell someone how to feel the film and the government cannot decide how someone should feel the film,” said Tilley. “Of course, the government can state its own point of view, but it is not for the government to tell someone what to feel about a film, what it does when it decides that someone is not allowed to hear a particular perspective.
“If the mayor wants to speak strongly against this film and against the owner of the cinema for having shown it, the mayor can speak hard for that,” said Chemerinsky, “but he cannot punish the cinema for the speech he exhibited.”
When the mayor sent a letter for the first time to the theater so as not to show “no other field” before the projections occurred, Martel initially replied by saying that the place would draw the film. Almost immediately, after an additional reflection and consultation with the board of directors and others, the decision was made to advance the film.
“It is not my job to dictate the way someone considers a film or the feelings they leave,” said Tabsch. “It is our work as an artistic organization to present films that are engaging, provocative, thoughtful, which promote dialogue, the films that are rented and that the public might not otherwise have the possibility of seeing.” No other land “corresponds to all these categories.”
The projections of “no other land” which are currently scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday should go ahead as planned. All the projections of the film at O Cinema were exhausted in advance.
