The International Documentary Association and the independent cinema coalition Art House Convergence have released a joint statement condemning Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner’s attempts to terminate the lease of the O Cinema for its decision to screen the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.”

“Programming decisions by independent film exhibitors must not suffer political interference in the form of First Amendment violations. It is doubly concerning that the documentary ‘No Other Land,’ which has been critically acclaimed by the highest levels of the global film industry, including an Oscar and four awards at the 2024 IDA Documentary Awards, has triggered such a censorious response,” the statement read.

Earlier this month, following the Oscar victory of “No Other Land” in the Best Documentary Feature category, the O Cinema scheduled screenings of the documentary, which was made by a team of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers and chronicles the displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta by Israeli military and settlers after a court ruling declaring the area a “closed military zone.”

Meiner, who is Jewish, sent a letter to O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell urging not to screen the film, calling it “a one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people.” Marthell initially pulled the film over “concerns of antisemitic rhetoric,” but later rescheduled it on free speech grounds.

“My initial reaction to Mayor Meiner’s threats was made under duress,” Marthell said in an email to the Associated Press on Thursday. “After reflecting on the broader implications for free speech and O Cinema’s mission, I (along with the O Cinema board and staff members) agreed it was critical to screen this acclaimed film.”

Meiner was elected Miami Beach mayor in 2023. He previously served as a civil law enforcement attorney for the Securites and Exchanges Commission, where he was accused by three women of sexual misconduct in a Miami Herald report published days before his election.

In response to the accusations, Meiner told the Herald that the claims were “likely motivated by anti-Israel and antisemitic views,” claiming that an individual at the SEC “and a few others continued to be antagonistic, spreading untrue [and] sometimes insulting or unflattering rumors about me in the office” after the individual “confronted me about Israel” and made “inflammatory statements” during an encounter in 2011.

Meiner left the SEC last July, and it is unclear to what extent any internal investigations were made into the accusations.

Meiner addressed his legislation to revoke O Cinema’s lease and withdraw more than $40,000 in city grant funding in his newsletter to residents, insisting that he is a “staunch believer in free speech.”

“But normalizing hate and then disseminating antisemitism in a facility owned by the taxpayers of Miami Beach, after O Cinema conceded the ‘concerns of antisemitic rhetoric,’ is unjust to the values of our city and residents and should not be tolerated,” he wrote.

The IDA and Art House Convergence pushed back, saying in its statement that “restricting access to films based on undue political influence or outside pressures, undermines the very essence of free speech the U.S. was founded on.”

“Threats to defund cinemas and film festivals based on their programmatic content runs directly counter to the right to free speech for art, artists, and exhibitors as a whole. If these threats are carried out, it is not only filmmakers but also audiences who will suffer.”

The IDA/AHC statement joins one made by PEN America’s Florida director Katie Blankenship, who said that “this effort to censor films is beyond the pale of acceptable governmental action in a democracy, and is blatantly unconstitutional.”

“Politicians do not get to tell theaters what movies they can show just because they disagree with a film’s message. Cultural spaces must be free to make their own choices of what to present to audiences, without political interference,” Blankenship wrote. “Threatening the lease of O Cinema will not only impact this film; it will deny audiences in South Florida the opportunity to access a range of films and programs on diverse subjects.”

“No Other Land” is the first Best Documentary Feature Oscar winner to receive the honor without a U.S. distributor. Release of the film has been handled through an independent booker on a theater-by-theater basis. This weekend, the film expanded to 138 locations, the largest count so far in its run, and grossed $165,940 for a total of $1.38 million.

The post Mayor’s Threat to Close Miami Cinema Over ‘No Other Land’ Screening Condemned by Film Groups as First Amendment Violation appeared first on TheWrap.