00:00Over 600 Oscar voters have signed an open letter criticizing the leadership of the Academy of
00:05Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its initial response to the recent assault and arrest of Oscar
00:10winner Hamdan Bilal. The 603 voting Academy members who signed the letter include Olivia
00:17Coleman, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, Ava DuVernay, Emma Thompson, Joaquin Phoenix,
00:23Tony Kushner, Richard Gere, Andrea Risborough, Todd Haynes, Sandra Oh, Penelope Cruz, Natasha
00:30Leone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and Elizabeth Olsen, among many others. The letter
00:36reads in part, we stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning
00:42Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Bilal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank. The statement
00:48goes on to say, documentary filmmakers often expose themselves to extreme risks to enlighten
00:54the world. It is indefensible for an organization to recognize a film with an award in the first
00:58week of March and then fail to defend its filmmakers just a few weeks later. To win an Oscar is not an
01:04easy task. Most films in competition are buoyed by wide distribution and exorbitantly priced campaigns
01:10directed at voting members. For no other land, to win an Oscar without these advantages speaks to how
01:15important the film is to the voting membership. The letter concludes by saying,
01:19the targeting of Bilal is not just an attack on one filmmaker. It is an attack on all those who
01:24dare to bear witness and tell inconvenient truths. We will continue to watch over this film team.
01:29Winning an Oscar has put their lives in increasing danger. We will not mince words when the safety of
01:34fellow artists is at stake. The letter comes after Academy leaders Bill Kramer and Janet Yang put out a
01:39statement Wednesday that suggested the beating and arrest of Bilal is something Academy members will
01:44quote, have many unique viewpoints on. Bilal, who won an Oscar for co-directing Best Documentary
01:49Feature winner No Other Land, was attacked and arrested by the Israeli military earlier this week
01:54during a confrontation with settlers that took place on the West Bank. He was released the next day.
01:59For more on this story and all the latest updates, go to THR.com. This is the Hollywood Reporter News.
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