Film producer Arthur Cohn answers the petition of 32,000 signatures originated by Yosi Tzur and hand-delivered to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Hollywood.
Dear Mr. Tzur,
I was deeply saddened to learn that your son, Assaf, was murdered by a Palestinian suicide bomber on a bus in Israel. As a result of this huge tragedy, you have initiated a petition to have the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revoke the Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for Paradise Now. You have collected over 32,000 signatures from people who support your views. The petition was reportedly hand-delivered to the Academy.
The basis for your petition is that the film glorifies terrorism, humanizes cold-blooded terrorists and minimizes the suffering of innocent men, women and children who were victims of the terrorists. In support of your petition, you further point out that the Academy Awards ceremony was held this year on March 5, which is also the third anniversary of the homicide bus bombing that claimed the life of your son and sixteen other innocent people.
As an Academy member of many decades, and a six-time Academy Award-winning producer, I feel it is my solemn duty to respond to the petition, which, although certainly well intentioned, is misguided.
Before going into detail, I want to clarify that I completely agree that the film is dangerous, because it can be conceived as providing comfort and sympathy for murderers, whom the film presents as freedom fighters. However, the Academy has never involved itself in questioning or rebuffing the contents of those films nominated for Best Foreign Film. It has always been the position of the president and the board of governors of the Academy that it is up to the members of the Academy to evaluate the quality, or lack thereof, of each film considered for a nomination.
Instead of reproaching the president of the Academy and its 5,798 voting members, we have every reason to be grateful for the enormous accomplishments of the Academy, which - apart from honoring various legendary films combating against anti-Semitism - have significantly helped increase understanding and awareness of the most profound of human tragedies: the Holocaust. The Academy awarded an Oscar for many feature documentaries that vividly recollect the horrors of the Holocaust.
My production The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, which was directed by my mentor Vittorio de Sica, is a great example of the commitment of the members of the Academy to promote memorable films that, prior to their recognition with the Oscar, were not known and - but for the Academy - would have disappeared unseen into obscurity. Let us not forget that The Garden of the Finzi-Continis was turned down by thirty-one distributors around the world, including nine in the United States. It was only as a result of the Oscar that this film received worldwide distribution and was seen by millions in countries around the world, many of whom never knew about the great tragedy of the Holocaust.
In a similar fashion, the Academy deemed it important to give the Oscar to One Day in September, which dealt with the terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Here, once again, this film was able to have an enormous impact around the world thanks to the Oscar. Such impact was so great that after 28 years of rigid refusal, the German government agreed to pay substantial compensation to the families of the eleven athletes murdered in Munich.
I could give countless further examples that show why the honorable institution of the Academy deserves our support and gratitude. For instance, I gratefully followed the personal advice of the executive director of the Academy, Bruce Davis, who urged me to restore the 30-year-old Garden of the Finzi-Continis, so that future generations will also be able to see this film, with its emotional impact.
In closing, I believe that to have the Academy censor films based on their content and message would only serve to weaken this institution, which has flourished on the principles of freedom of expression and on a profound belief in the integrity of its members to vote and decide what films are truly deserving of recognition.
Every good wish,
Arthur Cohn
Dear Mr. Tzur,
I was deeply saddened to learn that your son, Assaf, was murdered by a Palestinian suicide bomber on a bus in Israel. As a result of this huge tragedy, you have initiated a petition to have the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revoke the Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for Paradise Now. You have collected over 32,000 signatures from people who support your views. The petition was reportedly hand-delivered to the Academy.
The basis for your petition is that the film glorifies terrorism, humanizes cold-blooded terrorists and minimizes the suffering of innocent men, women and children who were victims of the terrorists. In support of your petition, you further point out that the Academy Awards ceremony was held this year on March 5, which is also the third anniversary of the homicide bus bombing that claimed the life of your son and sixteen other innocent people.
As an Academy member of many decades, and a six-time Academy Award-winning producer, I feel it is my solemn duty to respond to the petition, which, although certainly well intentioned, is misguided.
Before going into detail, I want to clarify that I completely agree that the film is dangerous, because it can be conceived as providing comfort and sympathy for murderers, whom the film presents as freedom fighters. However, the Academy has never involved itself in questioning or rebuffing the contents of those films nominated for Best Foreign Film. It has always been the position of the president and the board of governors of the Academy that it is up to the members of the Academy to evaluate the quality, or lack thereof, of each film considered for a nomination.
Instead of reproaching the president of the Academy and its 5,798 voting members, we have every reason to be grateful for the enormous accomplishments of the Academy, which - apart from honoring various legendary films combating against anti-Semitism - have significantly helped increase understanding and awareness of the most profound of human tragedies: the Holocaust. The Academy awarded an Oscar for many feature documentaries that vividly recollect the horrors of the Holocaust.
My production The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, which was directed by my mentor Vittorio de Sica, is a great example of the commitment of the members of the Academy to promote memorable films that, prior to their recognition with the Oscar, were not known and - but for the Academy - would have disappeared unseen into obscurity. Let us not forget that The Garden of the Finzi-Continis was turned down by thirty-one distributors around the world, including nine in the United States. It was only as a result of the Oscar that this film received worldwide distribution and was seen by millions in countries around the world, many of whom never knew about the great tragedy of the Holocaust.
In a similar fashion, the Academy deemed it important to give the Oscar to One Day in September, which dealt with the terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Here, once again, this film was able to have an enormous impact around the world thanks to the Oscar. Such impact was so great that after 28 years of rigid refusal, the German government agreed to pay substantial compensation to the families of the eleven athletes murdered in Munich.
I could give countless further examples that show why the honorable institution of the Academy deserves our support and gratitude. For instance, I gratefully followed the personal advice of the executive director of the Academy, Bruce Davis, who urged me to restore the 30-year-old Garden of the Finzi-Continis, so that future generations will also be able to see this film, with its emotional impact.
In closing, I believe that to have the Academy censor films based on their content and message would only serve to weaken this institution, which has flourished on the principles of freedom of expression and on a profound belief in the integrity of its members to vote and decide what films are truly deserving of recognition.
Every good wish,
Arthur Cohn