Palestinian Director Makes it to Oscars after LA Detention

After a grueling and undeserved detention at the Los Angeles Airport, and the resulting tweets and phone calls made by director Michael Moore that probably resulted in his release, Palestinian director Emad Burnat finally made it to the 85th Academy Awards in LA, where his film "5 Broken Cameras" was nominated in the Best Documentary category.

Though the award went to "Searching for Sugar Man," Burnat made history by becoming the first Palestinian director, not to mention the first Palestinian period, to be nominated for an Academy Award. He attended the ceremony with his wife, who wore a lovely traditional embroidered gown, and their young son.

Burnat is a farmer-turned-director, whose film chronicles the nonviolent, civil resistance movement in the West Bank village Bil'in. In an article for the Huffington Post, Burnat wrote that the film "is about precisely the kind of humiliation my family and I experienced at Los Angeles International Airport. The only difference is that the victims where I come from number in the millions, and our stories have become so routine that what happened to my family and me yesterday pales by comparison." His link, "My Journey from Palestine to Hollywood," is a worthwhile read.