Miami Beach’s O Cinema Challenges Mayor’s Threats of Eviction Over ‘No Other Land’ Screenings
Natalia Keogan
Sun, 03/16/2025 – 10:40
It’s charitable to call the chilly reaction to “Screams Before Silence” a fluke.
The 2024 documentary recalled the rape and torture behind Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. Sheryl Sandberg’s documentary featured first-person accounts of the savagery perpetrated against female victims.
We also saw some of the footage Hamas terrorists recorded during the invasion. It’s a tough but necessary watch.
The film was roughly an hour long and was immediately made available for free on YouTube last April. Film critics still ignored it. You can count the number of online “Screams Before Silence” reviews on two hands, with only one needed for mainstream outlets like The Wrap.
Near silence. And it just happened again.
A similar film exposing antisemitism hit theaters over the weekend, and most movie critics didn’t give it a look. That “fluke” defense is crumbling.
To be fair, “October 8” has received more attention from the film critic community.
Slightly more.
Pro-Israel celebrities like Debra Messing and Michael Rapaport join scholars in denouncing the antisemitic wave that crashed over Western culture over the last year-plus. Human rights groups stood down as Jewish students were attacked on college campuses and pro-Hamas rallies flooded major cities.
College campuses coddled pro-Palestinian extremists. Ivy League presidents refused to defend Jewish students against protracted attacks against them.
The media, in turn, too often trumpeted Hamas talking points rather than commit honest journalism. It’s a blistering film everyone should see, and it mostly succeeds in avoiding the political blame game.
Calling out religious bigotry should be a bipartisan affair.
RELATED: WHY CELEBRITIES WON’T TALK ABOUT ANTISEMITISM
The documentary, released nationwide on March 14, boasts just 8 reviews at RottenTomatoes.com. That’s not enough to produce an official “Tomatometer” rating. The Hollywood Reporter weighed in on the feature, as did The Washington Post.
The other reviews hail from smaller, independent sources.
What about The New York Times? The Wrap? Deadline? Variety? Indiewire? USA Today? CNN?
Nothing.
Now, compare that to the reception “No Other Land” received. The unabashedly pro-Palestinian film earned Best Documentary honors at this month’s Oscars ceremony.
The film boasts a perfect 100 percent score from 94 professional critics at RottenTomatoes.com.
Another pro-Palestinian film, “From Ground Zero,” also generated sizable support from the film critic community. That one boasts a 98 percent “fresh” rating from the 48 critics who weighed in on the film.
“October 8” director Wendy Sachs told this reporter most Hollywood stars are afraid to publicly defend Jews against antisemitism. Doing so might harm their careers, Sachs suggested.
That’s a sorry state of affairs.
What excuse do critics have for ignoring films that expose antisemitism?
The post AGAIN: Critics Avoid Antisemitism Documentary ‘October 8’ appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
IndieWire spoke with leaders in the nonfiction community about how Trump’s attacks on free speech are heightening anxieties for diverse filmmakers and organizations.
My beloved father recently died peacefully. He was a special man, the embodiment of kindness and generosity. His death meant I wasn’t able to teach my webinar in person for Carole Dean’s Producer Series. However, I recorded three videos to play during the webinar called “The Power of Trailers: Unlocking Funding with Compelling Stories.”
The webinar was highly successful. In Carole’s words, “The work you did on these trailers is superior to anything I have seen anywhere. This is highly creative, well developed personal guidance. They were in awe of you Karen. The compliments were many. They recognized your personal intent, to educate and empower them with the knowledge needed to make a good trailer.”
Thank you for the kind words, Carole! Here is a recording of my class. I begin the first of three videos soon after Carole introduces me at 1:15.
Also, you can easily download the full version of the first trailer editing tutorial here!
Enjoy learning! Learn more here about our Trailer Editing services.
The Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy announced today a new award for documentary film — The Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary —and its first list of 15 semi-finalists. “The Henry Awards recognize nonfiction films that advance public understanding of the critical issues of our time while demonstrating outstanding cinematic achievement,” the Center announced today in a press release. “Guided by the hallmarks of ethical practice, rigorous investigation, and courageous storytelling, the Henry Awards are intended to honor and encourage a documentary filmmaking practice grounded in […]
The post New Henry Awards Announces 15 Inaugural Semi-Finalists for Public Interest Documentary Annual Prize first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
My beloved father recently died peacefully. He was a special man, the embodiment of kindness and generosity. His death meant I wasn’t able to teach my webinar in person for Carole Dean’s Producer Series. However, I recorded three videos to play during the webinar called “The Power of Trailers: Unlocking Funding with Compelling Stories.”
The webinar was highly successful. In Carole’s words, “The work you did on these trailers is superior to anything I have seen anywhere. This is highly creative, well developed personal guidance. They were in awe of you Karen. The compliments were many. They recognized your personal intent, to educate and empower them with the knowledge needed to make a good trailer.”
Thank you for the kind words, Carole! Here is a recording of my class. I begin the first of three videos soon after Carole introduces me at 1:15.
Also, you can easily download the full version of the first trailer editing tutorial here!
Enjoy learning! Learn more here about our Trailer Editing services.
A new ID docuseries revisits a shocking moment from the 2024 trial that includes a detective making disparaging comments about Karen Read’s looks
Introducing Non-Fiction Core Application 3.0: Streamlining the Application Process and Pushing the Field Forward
Hajnal Molnar-…
Tue, 03/18/2025 – 11:17
A new ID docuseries revisits a shocking moment from the 2024 trial that includes a detective making disparaging comments about Karen Read’s looks
Introducing Non-Fiction Core Application 3.0: Streamlining the Application Process and Pushing the Field Forward
Hajnal Molnar-…
Tue, 03/18/2025 – 11:17