In flagrant attack on free speech, Miami Beach mayor threatens cinema that showed award-winning documentary No Other Land

Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner has proposed to cancel the lease of a cinema that screened the award-winning, pro-Palestinian documentary No Other Land. The O Cinema, a nonprofit theater that shows art and foreign films, operates out of a city-owned building in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach. Meiner’s move is a flagrant assault on free speech and constitutional rights.

On March 5, in response to the news that the O Cinema was planning to present No Other Land, Meiner wrote the movie theater management. In the letter, cited by Deadline, Meiner claimed, among other things, that the “film director’s comments at the Oscars prove the antisemitic nature of the film using Jew-hatred propaganda and lies such as ‘ethnic cleansing.’” This is a slanderous reference to comments, which received boisterous applause, made by one of No Other Land’s co-directors, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, at the March 2 awards ceremony.

The film became the first work in history to win in the Best Documentary Feature Film at the Academy Awards without a distribution company attached to it in the US. The American political and entertainment establishment have made it their business to suppress No Other Land, for fear of its impact on public opinion. Screen Daily recently noted that

In the US, the filmmakers opted for self-distribution in partnership with Cinetic Media, which facilitated theatrical bookings [including at the O Cinema], and the film has grossed more than $1m in North America to date–more than double the grosses of the other four Oscar-nominated documentaries combined.

The O Cinema initially caved in to Meiner’s pressure and cancelled the scheduled showings. However, Vivian Marthell, CEO of O Cinema, and the movie theater’s board reversed themselves and eventually went ahead with the sold-out screenings.

In a statement sent to Deadline, Marthell explained, “My initial reaction to Mayor Meiner’s threats was made under duress. 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.”

In retaliation, the mayor issued a draft resolution calling for the city to end the cinema’s lease. The resolution is to be debated at a city commission meeting March 19. The mayor’s proposal would also eliminate some $40,000 in grants to O Cinema.

In a newsletter distributed to Miami Beach residents, Meiner claimed that he had watched No Other Land and it “can best be described as a false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.”

The claim that the documentary is “one-sided” comes directly from the propaganda arsenal of the fascistic Netanyahu government, whose culture minister asserted similarly that the film failed to present “the complexity of Israeli reality.”