Oscar-winning Palestinian director released by Israeli forces in the West Bank

Academy members support Oscar-winner Palestinian Hamdan Ballal

Hamdan Ballal holds an Oscar for ‘No Other Land’ documentary in Los Angeles, March 2, 2025. Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian director of the film “No Other Land,” winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary on March 2, bestowed by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, was brutally beaten . . . Continue reading Academy members support Oscar-winner Palestinian Hamdan Ballal at Workers.org

‘No Other Land’ co-director Hamdan Ballal, bloodied and bruised, released from Israeli custody

Hamdan Ballal, one of the two Palestinian filmmakers who co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” is free. He was released Tuesday from Israeli custody, less than a day after Israeli military and police detained him and three other people following a brutal attack Monday by settlers in the occupied West Bank. Ballal was released from an Israeli police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. He had bruises on his fac…

A Palestinian Oscar-winner's arrest shocked the world. For these Jewish activists, it was terrifyingly normal

Raviv Rose was sitting down to the iftar meal on Monday with their hosts in Umm al Kheir, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, when they got a call that the village of Susya, home of Hamdan Ballal, one of the Oscar-winning directors of the documentary No Other Land, was being attacked by settlers. Rose and their fellow Jewish solidarity activists received at least three such calls per day, about settlers menacing shepherds and their flock, va…

Palestinian Filmmaker Hamdan Ballal Freed After Being Assaulted by Israeli Settlers & Soldiers

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was released Tuesday from Israeli detention after being brutally attacked on Monday, first by a mob of masked Israeli settlers and then by Israeli soldiers. Three weeks ago, Ballal won an Oscar for co-directing the documentary “No Other Land” about violent Israeli settlers trying to seize Ballal’s community in Masafer Yatta. Ballal said Israeli soldiers held him overnight blindfo…

Academy hit by backlash for statement that fails to mention detained director

The Academy said they condemned ‘harming or suppressing artists for their work or their viewpoints’ without mentioning the film or director by name

’No Other Land’ filmmaker released after settler assault, arrest

Israeli police on Tuesday released Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land', a day after he was violently assaulted by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and then detained by Israeli forces while injured and bleeding. Ballal was attacked by a group of 15 to 20 Israeli settlers in the village of Susya, who beat him and targeted his home, according to eyewitnesses. Instead of arresti…