The Screening Files - Part 1
SF-P1-S1
The films won awards. Then they disappeared from the schedule.
An Oscar winner with no US distributor at the time of the ceremony. A BBC documentary pulled from iPlayer after the broadcaster's own internal review found no impartiality breach. Two state-funded festivals whose directors were called before authorities after screening films about Palestine. Three cases. Three countries. Primary sources only.
SF-P1-S2
No Other Land · 97th Academy Awards · Best Documentary · March 2025 · US distribution gap01 / 04
No Other Land won the Oscar. At the time of the ceremony, it had no US distributor. None had agreed to carry it.
No Other Land was directed by a joint Palestinian-Israeli collective: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor. It documents the Israeli military's demolition of homes and infrastructure in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank between 2019 and 2023. An Israeli military order issued in 1981 declared the area a closed military zone. Residents petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court. The court ruled in favour of the military order in 2022. The demolitions continued. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 97th Oscar nominations and results, March 2025.
The film won the Documentary Award at the Berlinale in 2024. It was nominated and won Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Award ceremony in March 2025. It was submitted through a US-based producer. At the time of the award, no major US theatrical distributor had agreed to acquire it for release. The directors addressed this from the stage at the ceremony. The address is on the public record. Berlinale 2024 official award record · Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 97th Oscar nominations and results.
MUBI announced the acquisition of US streaming rights in April 2025, following the Oscar win. The film became available to US audiences that month. The gap between the award and the first US distribution agreement is documented. MUBI acquisition announcement, April 2025.
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 97th Oscar nominations and results, March 2025 · Berlinale 2024 official award record · Israeli Supreme Court ruling on Masafer Yatta petition, 2022 · MUBI acquisition announcement, April 2025
SF-P1-S3
Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone · BBC Two · February 2025 · iPlayer · Internal review · Ofcom ruling02 / 04
The BBC pulled it. The BBC's own review found no impartiality breach. Ofcom ruled on disclosure only. The film was not restored.
Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was broadcast on BBC Two on 5 February 2025 and simultaneously made available on BBC iPlayer. The documentary follows a teenager filming daily life in Gaza under bombardment. Following broadcast, complaints were submitted regarding the narrator's family connections. The narrator's father holds an administrative position in Gaza's government. The BBC pulled the film from iPlayer and conducted an internal editorial review. BBC Two broadcast record, 5 February 2025.
The BBC's published review findings stated that no breach of its editorial guidelines on impartiality was identified. The review was conducted under BBC Editorial Guidelines and the findings were published on the BBC's own platform. BBC published editorial review findings, 2025.
Ofcom subsequently investigated. Ofcom's ruling found that the BBC breached broadcasting rules by failing to disclose the narrator's father's administrative position prior to broadcast. Ofcom's ruling addressed the disclosure process. It did not find the film's content to be partial. The content finding and the disclosure finding are separate. Both are on the public record. The film was not restored to iPlayer following either finding. Ofcom Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin, 2025.
Source: BBC Two broadcast record, 5 February 2025 · BBC published editorial review findings, 2025 · Ofcom Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin, 2025
SF-P1-S4
Kerala film festivals · IFFK 2023 · Keralam Film Festival 2024 · State government review · Directors questioned03 / 04
Two publicly funded film festivals screened films about Palestine. The government that funds them reviewed the programming. Festival directors were questioned. No factual error in the films was published as a finding.
The International Film Festival of Kerala and the Keralam Film Festival screened documentaries and films about Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories in 2023 and 2024. The screenings included work produced after October 2023. The Kerala Film Academy, which oversees the IFFK, is a body of the Kerala state government. The festival is publicly funded. The Hindu, reporting on IFFK 2023 and 2024 · The Wire, reporting on Kerala film festival government review.
Following the screenings, the state government initiated a review of the programming decisions. Festival directors were called to appear before authorities and asked to account for the selection of specific films. The review process is documented in reporting by The Hindu and The Wire. The Hindu, reporting on IFFK 2023 and 2024 · The Wire, reporting on Kerala film festival government review.
No formal finding specifying factual error in any of the screened films was published by the reviewing authority. The outcome of the government review was not consolidated in a single official public document. The review took place. The directors were questioned. Both are on the contemporaneous press record. Kerala Film Academy public record · Indian press record, 2023 and 2024.
Source: The Hindu, reporting on IFFK 2023 and 2024 · The Wire, reporting on Kerala film festival government review · Kerala Film Academy public record
SF-P1-S2
The question. Part 1 ends here. Part 2 drops tomorrow.04 / 04
A film wins. A broadcast is pulled after the broadcaster's own review finds no breach. Festivals are reviewed by the government that funds them. No factual error in any film is published. What is being protected?
Part 2 of The Screening Files drops tomorrow. It covers the same sequence in Iran, Indonesia, the West Bank, and Syria. A director sentenced and banned from filmmaking. A BAFTA winner banned in the country it documented. An Oscar nominee detained at the US border. The record goes further back than Gaza.
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences · BBC Editorial Guidelines published review, 2025 · Ofcom Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin, 2025 · The Hindu · The Wire · Kerala Film Academy
Some stories are buried on purpose. We dig.
The Screening Files · Part 2 of 2 · Tomorrow: The PatternPart 2 covers Iran, Indonesia, the West Bank, and Syria. A director sentenced. A film banned. A filmmaker detained at the border on the way to the Oscars. The sequence predates Gaza. Follow UNSILENCED for two new stories every week.