Art House Convergence, a independent cinema coalition, and the International Documentary Association have released a shared statement criticizing the mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, and his attempts to stop the lease of the O Cinema because of their decision to show the critically acclaimed documentary, No Other Land.
After the feature won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, the O Cinema in Miami Beach arranged screenings of the documentary. No Other Land was made by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, recording the Palestinians resisting the forced displacement by Israel’s military forces in Masafer Yatta and later being forced out after a court order detailing that the land is a “closed military zone” by Israeli law.
Meiner, who is Jewish, reached out to O Cinema CEO Vivian Marthell via letter, imploring not to show the feature, labeling it as “one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people.” Martell, at first, listened to Meiner and pulled the film over worries “of antisemitic rhetoric,” but later decided to screen it on the grounds of free speech. Marthell released a statement via an email to the Associated Press last Thursday, explaining that her initial reaction “was made under duress” and that, “After reflecting on the broader implications for free speech… I agreed it was critical to screen this acclaimed film.”
Meiner explained to his legislation the reason why he wants to revoke O Cinema’s lease, stating that he is a 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.”
Meiner, who was elected mayor in 2023, served as a civil law enforcement attorney for the Securities and Exchanges Commission before he decided to run. At this place of employment, he was also accused by three women of sexual misconduct in a report by the Miami Herald that was published a couple of days prior to his election. Meiner’s response to the accusations was that the claims were “likely motivated by anti-Israel and antisemitic views,” alleging that a specific person at the SEC as well as a couple of other employees created a toxic environment, “spreading untrue or unflattering rumors about me in the office” after the specific individual confronted Meiner about Israel in 2011. Meiner left the SEC in July 2024; there is no other information regarding the accusations or the investigations into them.
The IDA and Art House Convergence condemned Meiner in their statement, writing, “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,” explaining further that, “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.”
No Other Land is the first Best Documentary Feature Oscar winner to be given the award without a U.S. distributor. The release of this film has been screened through an independent promoter on a theater-by-theater basis. Just this weekend, the feature expanded to 138 theaters, the largest so far in its entire run, and grossed approximately $165,940 for a total of $1.38 million.
