Miami Seashore mayor proposes ending O Cinema’s lease over displaying Oscar winner ‘No Different Land,’ calling it antisemitic – WSVN 7News | Miami Information, Climate, Sports activities

By Marlan McCarthy Last updated Mar 13, 2025

MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – An Oscar-winning movie has become the center of a film fight brewing in Miami Beach pitting the city’s mayor against the city’s only arthouse cinema.

The documentary “No Other Land,” walked away with the Best Documentary Feature Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards, March 2.

The film. directed by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, includes cellphone video recorded by one of the directors, Palestinian activist Basel Adra, over five years.

The film’s tagline promises to provide a “harrowing account of the systematic onslaught of destruction of Palestinian villages in the West Bank at the hands of the Israeli military.”

Another of the film’s four directors, Israeli filmmaker and journalist Yuval Abraham, spoke during the Oscar telecast while accepting the award.

“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger. We see each other,” he said.

While it currently does not have a U.S. distributor, “No Other Land” opened Friday at O Cinema, located on the ground floor of the Miami Beach Historic City Hall on Washington Avenue, next to Miami Beach Police headquarters.

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner is taking issue with the documentary, demanding late last week that it not be shown in the theater, which leases its space from the city.

In a letter sent to O Cinema, Meiner wrote:

“The film director’s comments at the Oscars prove the antisemitic nature of the film, using Jew-hatred propaganda and lies such as ‘ethnic cleansing.’”

O Cinema initially acknowledged Meiner’s concerns of antisemitism in a letter of their own to the mayor. That letter states in part:

“This film has exposed a rift which makes us unable to do the thing we’ve always sought out to do, which is to foster thoughtful conversations about cinematic works.”

The letter went on to state the arthouse agreed to cancel the movie, but the day after that letter was sent, screenings for “No Other Land” went on as scheduled.

The theater closed Wednesday to install a new screen and spruce up its sound system, according to an announcement from the arthouse, but once it reopens next week, all four of its showings, on Wednesday and Thursday nights, have already sold out.

Now Meiner wants to cancel the theater’s lease, aiming to kick them out of the city-owned building, as well as slash nearly $80,000 in grant money.

In a statement issued this week, Meiner wrote:

“I am a staunch believer in free speech. But normalizing hate and then disseminating antisemitism in a facility owned by the taxpayers of Miami Beach, after O Cinema conceded the ‘concerns of antisemitic rhetoric,’ is unjust to the values of our city and residents and should not be tolerated.”

In a resolution put forth by the mayor, the city states its “desire to identify a new tenant/grantee to operate the movie theater located on the Premises that more accurately reflects the City’s values.”

As of Wednesday night, O Cinema has not responded to 7News’ request for comment about the threat of eviction, but one city commissioner appeared to push back on Meiner’s plan.

In a statement to her constituents, Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez wrote:

“The O Cinema has screened over 50 Jewish films, hosts a monthly Holocaust screening with the [Miami] Jewish Film Festival, and has been the host of the festival since 2014. It has a long-standing commitment to the Jewish community, and knee-jerk reactions that threaten its future will lead to costly legal battles that waste taxpayer dollars.”

Meiner plans to host a virtual town hall next Tuesday to discuss the matter. He hopes to put the resolution up for a vote on Wednesday.

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