Emad Burnat, the Palestinian director who was detained at Los Angeles International Airport last week on his way to Los Angeles to attend the Academy Awards, didn't pick up an Oscar on Sunday night.
Burnat is co-director on the documentary "5 Broken Cameras." The film lost Best Documentary Feature to "Searching for Sugar Man," a film about the search for Sixto Rodriguez, a failed singer-songwriter from the 1970s.
The director made waves when he was held up by security at LAX on Feb. 19. Burnat contacted Oscar-winning director Michael Moore to help him get into the country. Below, read Moore's series of tweets about the incident:
Burnat himself released a statement about the detention:
Last night, on my way from Turkey to Los Angeles, CA, my family and I were held at US immigration for about an hour and questioned about the purpose of my visit to the United States. Immigration officials asked for proof that I was nominated for an Academy Award® for the documentary 5 BROKEN CAMERAS and they told me that if I couldn't prove the reason for my visit, my wife Soraya, my son Gibreel and I would be sent back to Turkey on the same day.
After 40 minutes of questions and answers, Gibreel asked me why we were still waiting in that small room. I simply told him the truth: 'Maybe we'll have to go back.' I could see his heart sink.
Although this was an unpleasant experience, this is a daily occurrence for Palestinians, every single day, throughout he West Bank. There are more than 500 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and other barriers to movement across our land, and not a single one of us has been spared the experience that my family and I experienced yesterday. Ours was a very minor example of what my people face every day.
"5 Broken Cameras" was nominated in the Best Documentary category alongside "Searching For Sugar Man," "How To Survive a Plague," "The Gatekeepers" and "The Invisible War." More about the Oscars 2013 ceremony can be found in the live blog below.
