The mayor of Miami Beach has dropped his plan to terminate the lease and pull public funding from an independent cinema for screening the Oscar-winning Israeli-Palestinian documentary No Other Land.
The decision was made on Wednesday after a raucous city meeting at which most attendees opposed Steven Meiner's plan to punish O Cinema for showing the documentary.
Meiner said he was withdrawing the proposal and deferring another that encourages film screenings that “highlight a fair and balanced viewpoint”. At the meeting, five city commissioners opposed his plan, with only one supporting terminating the lease and pulling funding for the non-profit art house cinema.
Miami mayor Francis Suarez called into the meeting to support Meiner but was booed after he exceeded the time limit for speaking. Meiner told the Miami Herald that he made the proposal as a public safety measure as he “legitimately viewed this as a public safety threat”.
Lawyer Miriam Haskell, who represented O Cinema, told the Miami Herald that the right decision had been reached as the theatre’s legal representatives argued it was a clear case of “viewpoint censorship”.
No Other Land is directed by Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli Yuval Abraham, and follows journalist Adra's attempts to protect his West Bank village from Israeli settlers. Meiner deemed the film a “false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our city and residents” in a newsletter.
The mayor had publicly urged O Cinema to cancel screenings of the documentary, which is being independently distributed by the filmmakers to select cinemas across the US after being shunned by studios. Meiner’s proposal garnered global attention, especially within the filmmaking community, which viewed the threat as a troubling precedent aimed at restricting free speech.
No Other Land won Best Documentary at the 97th Academy Awards, with Adra using his acceptance speech to call on the world “to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people”.
Last week, Dubai film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to the documentary in Middle East and North Africa, where it will be released in select cinemas and via streaming.
“In a world filled with dominant narratives, it is essential to consider diverse viewpoints,” said Front Row chief executive Gianluca Chakra. “This film offers a unique perspective, bringing together filmmakers united by a just vision. The footage presented is both striking and unparalleled. We have a duty to make sure it reaches audiences.”