A cinema in Florida showed a documentary about Palestine. Now the mayor could close it. – Mother Jones

Kareem TabschCo-founder of Miami Beach's O-cinema, loves his hometown. He made an award -winning film about the historic Jewish community of Miami Beach. He was praised in his local press for his contributions to South Florida's artistic culture. And in 2008 he was a co-founder of an Arthouse cinema to give his neighborhood access to independent films, which would otherwise be awarded elsewhere in favor of lucrative screens.

But until last week Tabsch had never interacted much with Miami Beach's urban government. This changed on March 11, when the cinema received a letter from the mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Mine, and told the business that she had to fight her planned demonstrations of “No Other Land”, a documentary about a Palestinian village that fought for the survival of the Israeli government and the violence of the Israeli government. If the cinema did not keep up, mine said that he would introduce a decision by the city council to terminate the cinema's rental agreement in a building in the city and to revoke at least $ 40,000 in scholarship money.

On March 3, “No Other Land” wrote the story when it won the Oscar for the best documentary. But there is still no US distributor. This means that one -on -one discussions with independent theaters like O Cinema are the only way to see the audience.

Tabsch's patron, he told Mother JonesWanted “no other” country: Despite the evacuation threat, the cinema went ahead and showed the film. They sold every single exhibition.

“We realize that some stories in particular can cause those who are rooted in the conflicts of real world-strong feelings and passionate reactions. How you should, ”said Ovian Marthell, CEO of Cinema, in an explanation. “Our decision to check 'no other country' is not an explanation of the political orientation. It is a courageous confirmation of our fundamental conviction that every voice deserves to be heard. “T

The dissolution that cancel the rental agreement of the cinema and withdraws the financing of the city will be voted on Wednesday. On the same night, the public schedule of the cinema lists another exhibition of “no other country”.

I talked to Tabsch about what happens when your local government decides that the priority of a film with the values ​​of your city is “not consistent”.

What was the decision to check “no other country”?

The film was pretty much everything on our radar last year because it was praised so general. People asked us: When will you show it? So the discussions started in autumn last year. It is a theater with 69 seats, so planning is difficult. We somehow intended this early 2025 window. That was in front of the Academy Awards. We always try to show as many of the Oscar nominated as possible what is quite common for art house cinemas.

At that time when we programed it, we were the only theater in Südflorida that showed “no other country”. We may have been the only theater in the state of Florida.

After showing it, other theaters come in to show it.

Let us talk about what happened to the mayor. How did you hear about this danger of evacuation for the first time?

We received a letter from the mayor. The initial reaction of many of us was that this felt very clearly like a threat to our chosen officials. And I don't think that in our history we have ever received a range from a local politician who asked us about it or questions our programming.

It was a not so inscribed threat to our future. At first we had the feeling that the future of our indie theater was threatened and decided not to show the film. Vivian [Marthell, CEO of O Cinema] Sent a letter to the mayor and said just as much. But very quickly we all noticed that this was really against the mission of our organization, the spirit of the independent film and really an affront against the first change. So within 12 hours she sent an e -mail to the mayor, in which she informed him that we would actually go through the demonstrations.

And we went through the demonstrations! Every demonstration of “no other country” in the O cinema was sold out.

The overwhelming feedback that I heard from members of the community was very positive. They were grateful that we showed the film. People went to the employees and thanked them that they showed that it is very clear that Miami Beach's audience in particular wanted to see the film and were grateful to do so.

You yourself are a documentary filmmaker. How did she react to all of this as someone who makes documentaries?

When someone who was born and grew up and lives in this community and saw the trajectory of his growth and development, I was really surprised by the course it chose. We see more and more attempts at censorship at different levels – especially at the level of the federal government, we see many threats for freedom of expression.

But I never really expected that in this lively cultural community in which Miami Beach is, where people have so many different backgrounds and many of them were oppressed. I had never expected our local government to decide that showing a film was so strong against the values ​​of the city that they had to close us. I have never expected our local government to retaliate against an art organization to extend and fulfill its artistic license and freedom to fulfill and fulfill films.

So what happens now?

The mayor's decision to remove the cinema and cancel his lease will come to vote and a discussion on Wednesday. It is my sincere hope that we will find a friendly solution for this.

I mean, listen, I respect deep prospects. And I know that the topic of the film is certainly provocative and could cause strong feelings. But good films cause strong feelings. As a filmmaker, I always say that you don't have to like my films, but I want you to feel something in one way or another.

This film clearly reminds of strong feelings in the local government. But I hope that there are cooler heads and we can progress in the city because we love the city of Miami Beach and our community loves us. This shows how you get out to see our films and how they came out to see it.