No Other Land Won an Oscar. Miami Beach's Mayor Is Trying To Evict a Movie Theater for Screening It

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner says "disseminating antisemitism" in a taxpayer-owned building is "unjust to the values of our city and residents and should not be tolerated."

The mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, is trying to terminate the lease of a movie theater for screening No Other Land, an Oscar-winning documentary about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Miami Herald reported that Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner introduced a resolution to terminate the lease of O Cinema, an independent film theater that rents space from the city, and discontinue more than $60,000 in promised grant funding. The legislation comes after Meiner tried to pressure the theater to cancel the screening.

Florida civil rights groups and First Amendment experts say such government retaliation against the theater for the content of the films it chooses to screen would be unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

"Simply put, the First Amendment does not allow the government to discriminate based on viewpoint or to retaliate against anyone for their speech," says Daniel Tilley, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida. "Pulling funding from an independent, community-based cinema under these circumstances is patently unconstitutional. The government does not get to pick and choose which viewpoints the public is allowed to hear, however controversial some might find them."

The Miami Beach mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

However, in a newsletter to Miami Beach residents earlier 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."

On March 5, Meiner sent O Cinema a letter on official city letterhead expressing outrage at the cinema's decision to screen the film, which documents the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank.

"Here in Miami Beach, our City has adopted a strong policy of support for the State of Israel in its struggle to defend itself and its residents against attacks by the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah," the letter read. "Airing performances of the one-sided, inaccurate film 'No Other Land' at a movie theater facility owned by the City and operated by O Cinema is disappointing."

This is flagrant government jawboning—an attempt to use the mayor's bully pulpit and the implicit threat of government action to cow the theater into self-censorship.

O Cinema initially complied.

"Due to the concerns of antisemitic rhetoric, we have decided to withdraw the film from our programming," Vivian Marthell, CEO of O Cinema, wrote to Meiner the following day. "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."

However, the theater then reversed course and told the Miami Herald it would continue the screenings after all.

"Our decision to screen NO OTHER LAND is not a declaration of political alignment," Marthell emailed the Miami Herald last week. "It is, however, a bold reaffirmation of our fundamental belief that every voice deserves to be heard, even, and perhaps especially, when it challenges us."

It's unclear how the Miami Beach commissioners will vote on the resolution, but at least some of them see the obvious legal peril that Meiner is courting. In a statement, Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez said:

"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."

No legal action in response to the letter has been taken yet, but Tilley says the Florida ACLU "is closely monitoring this issue and remains committed to ensuring that a variety of voices on issues important to Miami Beach residents can continue to be heard."

There was one entirely predictable outcome of all this. The Miami Herald reported that, "after receiving media attention for the film controversy, the theater sold out screenings and added two more dates later in March."