Oscars' double standard turns Palestinian film
into refugee Benjamin J Doherty
& Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 10
December 2002
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
operates a double standard that may have kept Palestinian
director Elia Suleiman's award-winning feature film "Divine
Intervention" out of the competition for the Oscars, EI has
learned. The film, a dark comedy about a love affair between
two people on opposite sides of an Israeli military
checkpoint, won a prestigious jury prize at the Cannes Film
Festival, and the European Film Award.
In recent days,
the Palestinian activist community has been abuzz with news
that Suleiman's film was rejected by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) which gives out the Oscars,
because Palestine is not a recognized country. Various action
alerts have called on people to write letters of protest to
the Academy to protest the purported rejection of the
film.
The true story is a little more complicated, but
raises disturbing questions about how a film that is acclaimed
and celebrated in the rest of the world, can be turned into an
artistic refugee, just because it is by and about
Palestinians.
AMPAS' director of communications John
Pavlik told EI that "Divine Intervention" was never formally
submitted to the Foreign Language Film Committee, and that
therefore no decision was made about the eligibility of a film
from Palestine.
Dawn Newell, an AMPAS spokesperson,
also told EI, "Nothing was actually submitted on behalf of
Palestine. No film, no paperwork, as I said, nothing came from
Palestine. So the Academy and the Foreign Language Film
Committee did not have to make any decisions on whether or not
to accept a film from Palestine into consideration because
nothing was submitted."
The question is: is AMPAS using
a technicality to in effect bar a film by and about
Palestinians? Did AMPAS discourage the formal submission of
this film in order to avoid having to make a decision whether
or not to include it?
Keith Icove, co-president of Avatar
Films, the US distributor of "Divine Intervention," told
EI that the film's producer, Humbert Balsan, had spoken with
AMPAS Executive Director Bruce Davis in early October, and had
been told emphatically that a film from Palestine would not be
eligible to compete.
In an email to EI, Icove wrote
that Balsan had authorized him to make the following
statement:
"As the producer of Divine Intervention, he
[Balsan] asked the Academy if the film could run for best
foreign language picture. The answer of the Academy was no,
Palestine is not a state we recognize in our
rules."
Academy spokesperson Pavlik
acknowledged to EI that Davis recalls having a telephone
conversation with Balsan, about possible submission of the
film, several months ago. According to Pavlik, Davis told
Balsan that he could write to AMPAS to request a waiver of the
rules that made it impossible for the film to enter. Pavlik
could not be specific about exactly which rules would need to
be waived.
Icove told EI that the filmmakers decided
not to try to rush an application in the few weeks remaining
and were discouraged by what AMPAS had told them.
Pavlik told EI that AMPAS does not decide what is a
country and what is not, but "would go by what the United
Nations says about the status of that country, and in the case
of Palestine, I don't know what that is." Pavlik also told the
Toronto Star that had the film been submitted, there
might have been problems.
The Toronto Star
reported:
"The academy does not accept films from
countries that are not recognized by the United Nations,
Pavlik said, adding it also had to be nominated by a
committee of recognized filmmakers from Palestine. Pavlik
said in both cases "Divine Intervention" might have failed
the test. Palestine does not have membership in the United
Nations but is recognized as an "entity" that has "observer
status" in the international body." ("Oscar escapes Mideast
dispute," Toronto Star, 9 December
2002)
But this excuse is spurious and wholly
inconsistent with AMPAS' past and current practice. AMPAS
routinely admits films from countries and regions that are not
members of the United Nations.
AMPAS' published rules
make no mention of the requirement that a country have any
particular status at the United Nations or even be
independent. For 2002, for example, the Academy accepted films
from both China and Taiwan. Taiwan, however, is not considered
an independent state by the international community, but a
province of the People's Republic of China. Taiwan has no
official recognition, status or office at the United Nations
whatsoever. In 2000, the film "Solomon and Gaenor," a love
story about a Yiddish-speaking Jewish man and a Welsh girl,
was a finalist for the Best Foreign Film award, representing
Wales. Wales is not an independent state, nor has any status
at the United Nations, but is a region of the United Kingdom.
Palestine, by contrast, has maintained an officially
recognized "Permanent Observer Mission" at the United Nations
for decades, and dozens of countries have officially
recognized the State of Palestine and maintain diplomatic
relations with it at the ambassadorial level.
Above: Elia Suleiman in
the director's chair.
AMPAS'
published rules state simply that, "Every country shall be
invited to submit its best film to the Academy. Selection of
the best picture from each country shall be made by one
organization, jury or committee which should include artists
and/or craftspeople from the field of motion pictures."
Director Elia Suleiman told the Toronto Star that such
a Palestinian committee existed and was ready to nominate his
film.
Given the precedents, and rules, there ought to
be no reason why Palestine could not, like Wales and Taiwan,
submit a film on its own behalf.
"Divine Intervention"
appears to meet all the other criteria. To be eligible for the
Best Foreign Film category, "the film must first be released
in the country of origin between November 1, 2001 and October
31, 2002, and first publicly exhibited by means of 35mm or
70mm film for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial
motion picture theater for the profit of the producer and
exhibitor."
It also states that, "the submitting
country must certify that creative talent of that country
exercised artistic control of the film."
With East
Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- the areas which the
Palestinian Authority has declared to be the maximum extent of
the Palestinian state -- under full Israeli military
occupation, and most of the population under complete curfew,
there are almost no functioning cinemas left and few
Palestinians have the financial means to attend them.
Nevertheless, the Al-Kasaba Cinema in Ramallah is advertising
"Divine Intervention" on its website, and according to a staff
person EI reached by telephone today, has been exhibiting the
film since early October -- early enough to meet the
requirements.
With the systematic destruction of
Palestinian civil and cultural institutions, and decades of
Israeli military censorship, it could be said that AMPAS,
rather than standing with fellow artists, is allowing Israel a
veto on the ability of Palestinians to exercise artistic
control over their work.
Yet, as last April's Chicago
Palestine Film Festival demonstrated, Palestinians inside
their country, and in the diaspora, have among them many
talented filmmakers whose art will continue to thrive, even if
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apparently
doesn't recognize it exists.
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