Oscar-nominated Palestinian director Emad Burnat lamented that U.S. border guards detained him and his family at the Los Angeles airport as they arrived for the awards show.

Emad Burnat

Burnat, whose “Five Broken Cameras” is up for best documentary at Sunday’s 85th Academy Awards, said it was abnormal that he was held up at LAX for an hour — but said the Palestinian people endure similar problems every day.

“I am the first Palestinian that has a documentary nominated to the Oscars. And it’s important to be an Oscar nominee. So to hold at the airport an Oscar nominee and start to question him, it’s not normal,” he said.

He added: “We go through this in our country because we live in a not normal situation under Israeli occupation,” and have to go through checkpoints and border crossings all the time.

“I felt the same thing when they stopped me in Los Angeles, because I am a Palestinian and I have a Palestinian passport so there is no big respect for me and my passport,” he said.

Burnat spoke late Wednesday at an Oscars-organized event for documentary nominees, including candidates, 24 hours after arriving in the United States from Turkey.

In a statement earlier, he said guards wanted proof that he was nominated for an Oscar. 

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency spokesman, when as asked for comment, said he could not discuss individual cases due to privacy laws.g