A screening organised by and for a Jewish audience of the Academy Award-winning film No Other Land at Classic Cinemas Elsternwick was cancelled late on Wednesday, after management said it had received 20 threats and complaints in one day and been warned about protests planned for the evening of the event.

The film, which won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, was co-directed by Palestinian-Israeli filmmakers. It documents the destruction of a cluster of Palestinian villages and the theft of land in Masafer Yatta, a region in the West Bank.

As reported in The Guardian, No Other Land was due to be screened at Classic Cinemas Elsternwick on 1 May, followed by a discussion between a Palestinian and an Israeli speaker. One of the filmmakers was recording a dedicated message for the Melbourne audience.

The screening, organised by Jewish residents of Elsternwick, with the Jewish Council of Australia, was planned to raise emergency funding for costs incurred by settler-state violence in Masafer Yatta.

Plans for the event had not yet been made public but after receiving ‘20 threats and complaints’ in less than one day, and having been warned that there were protests planned, the cinema’s management said it had made the decision to cancel the screening ‘for the safety of their customers’.

Organisers have today arranged to screen the Oscar-winning film at another Melbourne cinema. Information about the event can be found here.

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Sophia Kagan, Elsternwick resident and event organiser, said:

'My co-organiser and I are deeply disappointed by the cinema management’s decision. What does it say about freedom of expression in Australia, that an Oscar-winning film made by an Israeli-Palestinian collective is censored in such a blatant way? There are dozens and dozens of Jewish (and non-Jewish) residents in our neighbourhood, like me, that do want to see this film, and no one is being forced to watch against their will. The fact that pro-Israel advocates have made threats and complaints to this cinema shows how desperate they are to prevent Jewish people from learning about the horrors of Israel’s occupation of Palestinians.'

Sarah Schwartz, co-executive of the Jewish Council, said:

'If pro-Israel advocates are so scared of a group of Jews watching an Oscar-winning film made by Palestinians and Israelis, and hearing from one of the Palestinian film directors, it shows how morally bankrupt their position is. This is part of a broader trend of these individuals and groups trying and failing to enforce a pro-Israel orthodoxy within the Jewish community.'

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