Oscar winner 2025 in the best documentary category, Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was beaten and taken from the village where he lives by a group of Israeli soldiers. The information was released at X by Yuval Abraham, codire of the feature film Groundless.
“A group of settlers Linchou Hamdan Ballal, codirector of our film Groundless. They beat him and he has wounds on his head and stomach with bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. There is no sign of him since then, ”wrote Yuval.
Yuval is a journalist and is part of the Palestinian-Israeli collective who directed Groundless. The film, directed by Hamdan, Yuval, Basel Adra and Rachel Szor denounces the destruction of the Masafer Yatta region by Israeli soldiers in the busy Warymy.
The journalist also shared a video that shows the activities of the invading group. In the recording, a man faces some people and throws stones at a vehicle. “The masked settler in the video is part of the group that attacked the village of Hamdan, and they continue to attack American activists, destroying their cars with stones. Hamdan’s location is still unknown,” he wrote.
According to the Associated Press agency, Hamdan was arrested by Israeli soldiers after attacks at Susiya’s Palestinian village, located in the Masafer Yatta region. According to information from the Collective Center for Jewish Nonviolence, Ballal had blood injury to his head, and was being attended to an ambulance when he was arrested by Israeli soldiers with another Palestinian man who did not have his identity revealed. Their whereabouts have not yet been identified.
Yuval Abraham stood out during the 2024 awards season for his speeches of strong political nature. During the Oscar ceremony, upon receiving the prize for GroundlessHe spoke about the destruction of Gaza, asked for peace and stressed the influence of foreign policy in countries such as the United States on conflicts in the region.
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“We made this movie, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other,” he said. “Gaza’s atrocious destruction and its ending people, the Israeli hostages brutally captured in the crime of October 7, which should be released. When I look at Basel [Adra, também codiretor do filme]I see my brother, but we are not the same. We live in a regime where I am free under civil law, and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control. There is a different way, a political solution, without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both our peoples. And I must say, as I am here, that foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. You can’t see that we are interconnected, that my people can be really safe if the people of Basel are really free and safe? There is another way. It’s not too late for life, for the living. ”
No Brazil, Groundless It is playing in theaters and available for rent or purchase on digital platforms.
