Oscar-nominated American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has taken to
Twitter to express his dissatisfaction with immigration officials at LAX
airport in Los Angeles, after they allegedly threatened to send fellow
filmmaker Emad Burnat, "back to Palestine."
Burnat had been
visiting LA to attend the 85th Annual Academy Awards. He had been
nominated in the category of Best Documentary for his film "5 Broken
Cameras."
"5 Broken Cameras" documents the first years of life for Burnat's baby against the backdrop of the West Bank village of Bil'in's battle against the Israeli security fence. Five of Burnat's cameras were smashed by the Israeli army as he documented friends and family members being shot and injured by Israeli troops. The film won the documentary director's award this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
According to Moore, once Burnat presented the authorities with his invitation to
the 85th Annual Academy Awards, he was told that his official Oscars
invitation wasn't "proper". Moore then tweeted the entire incident as relayed to him by Burnat.
After being detained for an
hour and a half, Moore tweeted that they had been released and told they
could "stay in LA for the week & go to the Oscars."
Moore ended his tweeting rampage simply with, "Welcome to America."
The Academy Awards ceremony will be held February 24.
JTA contributed to this article.
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