Miami Beach Mayor Axes Plans to Shutter Indie Theater for Screening ‘No Other Land’

The controversial threat to terminate the lease for Miami Beach’s arthouse theater O Cinema for screening the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land has been withdrawn by its mayor Steven Meiner following a city council meeting on Wednesday, March 19. Per a report from the Miami Herald, a large majority of the attendees and the mayor’s colleagues had opposed his plan to evict the theater.

Meiner, who is Jewish and a known supporter of Israel, claims he brought forth the proposal “as a public safety measure” due to concerns about increasing antisemitism. He had publicly discouraged O Cinema from screening the documentary which centered on the Israel-Palestine Crisis, something he described in his newsletter as “a false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.” However, the documentary itself was made by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers.

When the O Cinema did not comply with Meiner’s wishes, he introduced a resolution to revoke the lease under which the theater rents the space. He also threatened to withdraw its $40,000 in grant funding. Kareem Tabsch, the co-founder of O Cinema, told the New York Times, “At the time, we take very seriously our responsibility as a cultural organization that presents works that are engaging and thought provoking and that foster dialogue,” he said. “And we take very seriously our responsibility to do that without interference of government.”

The proposal drew plenty of attention from around the world, particularly within the film community. Prominent documentarians by the likes of Michael Moore, Laura Poitras, Alex Gibney, Ezra Edelman, and many others signed an open letter to the mayor opposing the theater’s censoring. They called it “an attack on freedom of expression, the right of artists to tell their stories, and a violation of the First Amendment. It is also an offense to the people of Miami Beach, and Greater Miami as a whole, who deserve to have access to a diverse range of films and perspectives.”

No Other Land was the winner of this year’s Indie Film Site Network Advocate Award, which is presented to a film that illuminate a humanitarian or environmental issue with a singular artistic vision. It continues to play in select theaters, even as it has yet to be picked up for U.S. distribution following its Oscar win. It recently became the highest-grossing Oscar-nominated documentary of the year.

Liked it? Take a second to support Hammer to Nail on Patreon!