National Society of Film Critics

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FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS DENOUNCE NEXSTAR AND DISNEY-ABC DECISIONS TO SUSPEND “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!” We, the members of the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, strongly condemn the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. For decades, our organizations have represented a profession that is enabled by the First Amendment. Kimmel’s long-running talk show promotes free speech, including when it gives film artists the chance to discuss their work. There is only one word to describe the decision by powerful media corporations to silence an individual’s perspective due to fear of repercussions by the government: censorship. This is the antithesis of the values embodied by our work. We demand a reversal of this decision and encourage our colleagues across the industry to do the same.
U.S. FILM CRITICS’ GROUPS 
CONDEMN VIOLENCE AGAINST HAMDAN BALLAL We, the members of the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Boston Society of Film Critics, express our support for the Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and condemn, in the strongest terms, the brutal and unlawful attack he suffered this week at the hands of Israeli settlers, as well as his detainment by Israeli authorities. We are gravely concerned for Mr. Ballal’s health and safety, as well as the safety of his loved ones, and, now that he has been released, extend our hopes for his full recovery from his injuries. Mr. Ballal was assaulted near his home in Khirbet Susya, a village in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank. Attacks on the residents of Masafer Yatta are nothing new, as we have seen from “No Other Land,” the Academy Award-winning documentary that Mr. Ballal co-directed with Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor. As critics representing four of the numerous organizations that honored “No Other Land” as the best documentary of 2024, we are infuriated that a filmmaker’s brave and principled advocacy has made him even more of a target in a community where Palestinians already exist under continual threat of displacement and violence. One of the most powerful aspects of “No Other Land” — and the reason so many have tried, in vain, to limit its reach and silence its message — is that it is itself a rare feat of collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and artists, united by their belief in dignity and equality for all. By the very nature of its form and creation, the film represents, and dares to imagine, a more peaceful future. We applaud Mr. Ballal and his colleagues for the courage and artistry with which they have advanced that vision and affirm that it will never be forgotten.