#JoaquinPhoenix, #SandraOh, #EmmaThompson were among more than 500 Hollywood stars and industry leaders who signed a letter that called out and condemned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for failing to support Palestinian filmmaker #HamdanBallal after he was recently attacked Israeli settlers and arrested by soldiers. “We stand in condemnation of the brutal assault and unlawful detention of Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal by settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank,” the group wrote in a letter on Thursday. “To win an Oscar is not an easy task. Most films in competition are buoyed by wide distribution and exorbitantly priced campaigns… For ‘No Other Land’ to win an Oscar without these advantages speaks to how important the film is to the voting membership. The targeting of Ballal is not just an attack on one filmmaker — it is an attack on all those who dare to bear witness and tell inconvenient truths.” 🔗 link in bio for more on this story.