Miami Beach Mayor Steve Meiner stood in City Hall last week and announced he would withdraw a controversial proposal targeting O Cinema. The single-screen arthouse theater received scrutiny after screening No Other Land, an Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary. Meiner had originally called the film “egregiously antisemitic” and proposed terminating O Cinema’s lease and city funding.
At the meeting, Meiner expressed regret over how he handled the situation. “My resolution should have been more open to discussion,” he said, though he also claimed, “It’s not healthy to debate.” With emotion, he told the crowd, “From the bottom of my heart, even though some of you said things that were hurtful: I love you all, I really, really do.”
Filmmakers and Community Push Back
The mayor’s proposal drew national attention. Over 700 artists and filmmakers signed an open letter calling the move “an act of censorship.” At Wednesday’s commission meeting, a packed room of Miami Beach residents and theater supporters criticized Meiner’s actions.
“You’re the reason I come here,” one woman told the commission, speaking about O Cinema. “Miami Beach sucks now.” Another speaker declared, “I got up at 6 a.m. to be here, and I don’t get up at 6 a.m. for anything.”
Some critics identified as Zionists and pushed back on Meiner’s claim that he spoke for “90 percent of the Jewish community.” Others, like local filmmaker Monica Sorelle, quoted No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham and mentioned hate crimes to show the broader dangers of silencing expression.
Support for Meiner Was Limited
Fewer than a dozen people spoke in favor of Meiner’s proposal. One man compared No Other Land to The Birth of a Nation. Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr., Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and Israel’s Consul General Maor Elbaz-Starinsky also voiced support but were drowned out by chants of “one minute’s up!” from the audience. When Meiner claimed the film lacked “the Israeli perspective,” someone shouted, “It’s co-produced and directed by Israelis!”
Though Meiner dropped his proposal, he did not abandon the issue. He deferred a vote on a second resolution that would encourage the theater to show films with a “balanced viewpoint” on the Israel-Hamas war. O Cinema responded in a statement, promising to “remain in conversation with the city until it is resolved.”
O Cinema Refuses to Back Down
Co-founders Vivian Marthell and Kareem Tabsch stood firm. “Should we have capitulated to the mayor’s demands, it would have been a betrayal of our mission and our audience,” Tabsch said. “We couldn’t allow our First Amendment right to free speech be trampled on.”
Marthell added, “Our programming speaks for itself. It’s varied, it’s diverse, it speaks to our communities.”
A History of Political Pressure on the Arts
South Florida has seen similar battles before. In 2000, Miami pulled funding from the Miami Film Festival over a Cuban film. In 2022, Commissioner Joe Carollo forced out the Miami Film Festival from Tower Theater.
Other cultural institutions have removed Palestinian art, including the Institute of Contemporary Art. Artist Charles Gaines revealed the ICA asked him to alter his work related to Palestine.
Despite the tension, Marthell and Tabsch remain optimistic: “I hope this is just a bump in the road. We want to get back to the great relationship we had with the city.”
