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August 28, 2024
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Palestinian film-makers sign letter protesting at Hollywood’s ‘inhumanity and racism’

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Dozens of figures including Elia Suleiman and Farah Nabulsi are responding to attempts to remove Bisan Owda’s documentary from the Emmys

Dozens of Palestinian film-makers have signed an open letter protesting against Hollywood’s “inhumanity and racism” toward Palestinians and calling on “international colleagues in the film industry” to speak out.

The letter, published in Variety, was signed by notables including Elia Suleiman, director of Divine Intervention and It Must Be Heaven, Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now), and Farah Nabulsi, director of forthcoming feature film The Teacher.

The letter states: “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.” It adds: “We must still contend with and fiercely challenge the anti-Palestinian and generally anti-Arab racist propaganda that remains all too prevalent in western entertainment media.”

It ends: “This has to stop. Now.”

The protest takes its cue from attempts to have Bisan Owda’s documentary It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive removed from the news and documentary Emmy awards where it was nominated for outstanding hard news feature story (short form) over allegations of Owda’s ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a US-designated terrorist organisation. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Natas), the body that organises the Emmys, refused to cancel the nomination, saying it was “unable to corroborate … reports, nor has it been able, to date, to surface any evidence of … active involvement by Owda with the PFLP organisation”.

The letter thanked Natas for “standing up to pressure”, adding: “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.”

Signed:

  1. Michel Khleifi
  2. Mai Masri
  3. Hany Abu Assad
  4. Najwa Najjar
  5. Elia Suleiman
  6. Rashid Masharawi
  7. Farah Nabulsi
  8. Mohammad Bakri
  9. Maha Haj
  10. Mahdi Fleifel
  11. Raed Andoni
  12. Kamal Aljafari
  13. Saleh Bakri
  14. Mohanad Yaqubi
  15. Tarzan Nasser
  16. Arab Nasser
  17. Ossama Bawardi
  18. Rakan Mayasi
  19. Khadija Habashneh
  20. Leila Sansour
  21. Khaled Jarrar
  22. Rula Nasser
  23. May Odeh
  24. Adam Bakri
  25. Iyad Alasttal
  26. Amer Shomali
  27. Carol Mansour
  28. Muna Khalidi
  29. Mohamed Jabaly
  30. Salim abu Jabal
  31. Suha Arraf
  32. Firas Khoury
  33. Randa Nassar
  34. Yasmine Al Massri
  35. Wisam Al Jafari
  36. Ismael El Habbash
  37. Muayad Alayan
  38. Sawsan Asfari
  39. Kamel el Basha
  40. Rozeen Bisharat
  41. Nadia Eliewat
  42. Ward Kayyal
  43. Maryse Gargour
  44. Amer Hlehel
  45. Ziad Bakri
  46. Aws Al-Banna*
  47. Ahmed Al-Danf*
  48. Basil Al-Maqousi*
  49. Mustafa Al-Nabih*
  50. Muhammad Alshareef*
  51. Ala’a Ayob*
  52. Bashar Al-Balbeisi*
  53. Alaa Damo*
  54. Hana Awad*
  55. Ahmad Hassouna*
  56. Mustafa Kallab*
  57. Kareem Satoum*
  58. Mahdi Karirah*
  59. Rabab Khamees*
  60. Khamees Masharawi*
  61. Wissam Moussa*
  62. Tamer Najm*
  63. Nidaa Abu Hasna*
  64. Nidal Damo*
  65. Reema Mahmoud*
  66. E’temad Weshah*
  67. Islam Al Zrieai*
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