Michael Moore Condemns Detention of Palestinian Filmmaker

Palestinian filmmaker and Oscar nominee Emad Burnat was detainedby Los Angeles airport officials with his wife and 8 year old son forquestioning and were not allowed to enter the United States. Burnat, who wentto LA to attend the Academy Awards after his film "5 Broken Cameras" wasnominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature Category- was notallowed to enter the US and was threatened to be deported with his family.

Burnat informed officials he was invited by the Academy to attendthe Oscars and the dinner gala for nominees and presented the Oscar invitationwhich apparently was not proof enough to release him and his family. ThePalestinian filmmaker contacted great American director and member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Science Michael Moore immediately via SMSand asked for immediate help and informed him he and his family were detainedby officials in LA airport and they demand to know reasons behind his visit.

Moore, replied to Burnat that help is on the way where hecontacted the Academy officials who sent their lawyer to the airport and he tweetedthat night commenting on this incident:"Although he (Burnat) produced the Oscar invite nominees receive, that wasn'tgood enough & he was threatened with being sent back to Palestine. ...Apparently the Immigration & Customs officers couldn't understand how aPalestinian could be an Oscar nominee. Emad texted me for help ... I calledAcademy officials who called lawyers. I told Emad to give the officers my phone# and to say my name a couple of times."

Officials finally released Burnat and his family after 90minutes of interrogations and he managed to attend the dinner gala for nomineesheld by Moore and directors Michael Apted and Rob Epstein but he was in a badstate of mind and in shock and said he came to the States six times before butwas never treated this way before! He also told Moore that the treatment hefaced in LA airport reminds him of the treatment Palestinians face daily byIsraeli forces.

"5 Broken Cameras" documents about five years ofprotests against land seizures by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in hisvillage of Bil'in in the occupied West Bank.