Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo has condemned the detention of Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal by the Israeli Defense Forces. Ballal, one of the co-directors of No Other Land, a non-fiction movie that received the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature on the current Academy Awards, was assaulted by Israeli settlers within the Palestinian village of Susiya within the Masafer Yatta space in Southern West Bank on Tuesday. He was later arrested by Israeli forces.
Ruffalo, who has stood by the Palestinian trigger prior to now, urged all filmmakers and Academy members to come back collectively and protest Ballal’s illegal arrest.
“No matter where you stand on this issue this is an attack on our beloved art from of film making,” Ruffalo commented on an IndieWire put up on Instagram.
A screengrab of Mark Ruffalo’s touch upon IndieWire’s Instagram put up
“Hamden Ballal is a political prisoner and this is an international incident and violation of human rights. Many of us are not surprised by this behavior from the lawless settlers and the IDF at this point. Kill(ing) journalists and abducting film makers is not an accident but a design for the eradication of a people and their culture. Free Ballal!”— the Mickey 17, Poor Things and Avengers wrote.
Dozens of settlers attacked Susiya on Tuesday destroying property activist group Centre for Jewish Nonviolence instructed AP.
They attacked Hamdan Ballal, one of the documentary’s co-directors, leaving his head bleeding, the activists mentioned. As he was being handled in an ambulance, troopers detained him and a second Palestinian man, the group mentioned. It mentioned his whereabouts had been now unknown.
No Other Land, which received the Oscar this yr for finest documentary, chronicles the battle by residents of Masafer Yatta to cease the Israeli navy from demolishing their villages. It has two Palestinian co-directors, Ballal and Basel Adra, each residents of Masafar Yatta, and two Israeli administrators, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
(With inputs from AP)
Published – March 25, 2025 05:30 pm IST
