5 Broken Cameras misses out on Oscar glory

A Palestinian film-maker has missed out on the Best Documentary Feature at the 85th annual Academy Awards on Sunday.

Emad Burnat’s Oscar-nominated 5 Broken Cameras lost to Searching for Sugar Man, a Swedish-British production about a lost relic of the American folk scene.

5 Broken Cameras was the first Palestinian film to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars. Burnat, an amateur filmmaker and farmer, initially bought his camera to capture his son’s development before using the footage for the film. The film was co-directed with Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi.

5 Broken Cameras documents five years of protests against land seizures by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in Burnat’s village in the occupied West Bank. It was one of two documentaries about the divided territory nominated for an Academy award.