The Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat, who had a hard time convincing immigration officers at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday that his invitation to this weekend’s Academy Awards was real, described his brief detention in a statement on Wednesday.
Last night, on my way from Turkey to Los Angeles, my family and I were held at U.S. immigration for about an hour and questioned about the purpose of my visit to the United States. Immigration officials asked for proof that I was nominated for an Academy Award for the documentary “5 Broken Cameras,†and they told me that if I couldn’t prove the reason for my visit, my wife Soraya, my son Gibreel and I would be sent back to Turkey on the same day.
After 40 minutes of questions and answers, Gibreel asked me why we were still waiting in that small room. I simply told him the truth: ‘Maybe we’ll have to go back.’ I could see his heart sink. Although this was an unpleasant experience, this is a daily occurrence for Palestinians, every single day, throughout he West Bank. There are more than 500 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and other barriers to movement across our land, and not a single one of us has been spared the experience that my family and I experienced yesterday. Ours was a very minor example of what my people face every day.
As my colleague Jennifer Schuessler reported, Mr. Burnat, who was nominated along with his Israeli co-director Guy Davidi for his autobiographical film about the difficulties of life in the occupied West Bank, was eventually released after a previous winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary, Michael Moore, managed to get the Academy’s lawyer to intervene.
In a post on his blog, Mr. Moore explained that he was waiting for the Palestinian filmmaker at a dinner for nominees when he received an urgent appeal for help.
I received an urgent text from Emad, written to me from a holding pen at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Here is what it said, in somewhat broken English: “Urgent - I am in the air port la they need more information why I come here. Invitation or some thing. Can you help they will send us back. If you late, Emad.â€
I quickly texted him back and told him that help was on the way. He wrote back to say Immigration and Customs was holding him, his wife, Soraya, and their 8-year old son (and “star†of the movie) Gibreel in a detention room at LAX. He said they would not believe him when he told them he was an Oscar-nominated director on his way to this Sunday’s Oscars and to the events in LA leading up to the ceremony. He is also a Palestinian. And a oliv! e farmer.! Apparently that was too much for Homeland Security to wrap its head around.
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