No Other Land
2024 Palestinian documentary film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
No Other Land is a 2024 documentary film directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor, in their directorial debut. A Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists conceived and produced the film in what they describe as an act of resistance on the path to justice in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The film was recorded between 2019 and 2023 and shows the destruction of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank, which had been resisting forced displacement after an Israeli "firing zone" was declared on their land.[4][5]
| No Other Land | |
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| Cinematography | Rachel Szor |
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| Music by | Julius Pollux Rothlaender |
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Running time | 92 minutes[1] |
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| Box office | $3.6 million[2][3] |
A co-production between Palestine and Norway, the film was selected for the Panorama section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 16 February 2024,[6] winning the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film[7] and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.[8] The film won Best Documentary Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.[9]
Synopsis
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Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist, has been resisting the forced displacement of his people by Israel's military in Masafer Yatta, a region in the occupied West Bank, since he was a child. He records the gradual destruction of his homeland, where Israeli soldiers are tearing down homes and evicting their inhabitants to enforce a court order maintaining that the area's designation as an Israeli military firing zone was legal under Israeli law.[10] He befriends Yuval Abraham, a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him in his struggle. They form an unexpected bond, but their friendship is challenged by the huge gap between their living conditions: Basel faces constant oppression and violence, while Yuval enjoys freedom and security.
The film follows Adra and the residents of Masafer Yatta as they confront Israeli forces carrying out demolition orders. During one such confrontation, Masafer Yatta resident Harun Abu Aram is shot by an Israeli soldier and paralyzed from the neck down while trying to prevent them from stealing his electric generator. Due to the destruction of his home, which was illegal under Israeli law, he is forced to live in a cave. Abu Aram eventually dies as a result of his injuries and inability to receive proper care.[11]
Abraham attempts to raise awareness of the situation in Masafer Yatta with limited results. Adra chides him for wanting results too quickly and tells Abraham he must be patient. Adra ponders the limits of raising awareness, asking Abraham rhetorically what happens after people see the footage they've captured.[11][12]
The conclusion of the film shows Adra's cousin Zakaria al-Adra, who was unarmed, being shot by an Israeli settler in the days following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[11][12]
Production
In an interview at the Berlinale, Adra and Abraham spoke with Variety about the film. Adra said of its development, "Yuval and Rachel, who are Israelis, came five years ago to write about things—Yuval is journalist. We met and we became friends but also activists together, working on articles about the area. [...] And then we got the idea of doing this, of creating this movie."
About filming, Abraham said:[13]
Basal's [sic] family and neighbors had a huge archive of videos that were filmed over the course of 20 years. And then we as activists, we were there on the ground together, working together for almost five years, and we filmed a lot. We had Rachel, the cinematographer and co-director of the film, who was shooting us. So there was an abundance of footage. The military entered Basal's [sic] home twice and confiscated computers and cameras. So we were always very, very stressed. It was complicated logistically and quite stressful, but in the end we managed.
The documentary was filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production in October 2023.[14]
Release
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No Other Land had its world premiere on 16 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Panorama.[15][16] It had its international premiere in the "Urgent Matters" section and the "Conflicted" theme at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival on 15 March 2024.[17] It featured in the "Popular Front(s)" in the 46th Cinéma du Réel Festival that took place from 22 to March 31, 2024 in Paris.[18] The film was presented in the International Documentaries section of the 71st Sydney Film Festival on June 13, 2024.[19] It was also screened in the "Horizons" section at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 28 June 2024.[20][21]
It was selected in TIFF Docs at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, where it screened on September 12, 2024.[22] It screened in "Showcase" at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival on September 28, 2024.[23] It was selected in Documentary Showcase at the 29th Busan International Film Festival and screened on October 3, 2024.[24] It was also on the Main Slate of the 2024 New York Film Festival and screened at Lincoln Center in October 2024.[25][26] The film was selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 under the World Cinema section, where it was to have its South Asia premiere,[27] but its screenings were canceled as the festival could not obtain the "required permissions" in time.[28] The film was also selected in the Standpoint section of the 35th Singapore International Film Festival and screened on December 4, 2024.[29]
The film could not find a U.S. distributor after being picked up for distribution in 24 countries and winning the Oscar,[30] a situation that has been compared to soft censorship.[31] It had a one-week Oscar-qualifying theatrical run at Film at Lincoln Center in New York City starting on November 1, 2024.[32] It had a limited theatrical release in New York City on January 31, 2025, at New York's Film Forum, and in Los Angeles on February 7,[33] with bookings facilitated by Cinetic Media via Michael Tuckman Media.[30] In April 2025, the film was made available for digital rental in North America for three weeks, with proceeds benefiting Masafer Yatta. Basel Adra said in a statement, "We decided to independently make our film accessible online in the U.S. because, despite winning the Oscar, our community is still being destroyed and we urgently need help."[34]
Reception
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Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 90 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "An elegantly assembled diary of the Palestinian experience, No Other Land is a harrowing document that leaves traces of hope for a better future."[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 93 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[36]
Olivia Popp, reviewing the film at Berlinale for Cineuropa, wrote: "No Other Land is at its best when it achieves cinematographic mobility, the camera acting as an extension of this activist interrogation of violent Israeli occupation and not as a detached observer."[37] Lovia Gyarkye, reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter, called it "a devastating portrait", writing, "The film is not a document of solutions, but it does position itself as a step in the movement toward a future where Palestinians are just as free as Israelis."[38] Jonathan Romney, reviewing the film at Berlinale in ScreenDaily, called the film "a documentary that is particularly urgent and eye-opening in the context of the current Israeli–Palestinian conflict."[39]
In Variety, Guy Lodge wrote, "Given the conditions of its production, No Other Land would be vital even in a more ragged form. But the filmmaking here is tight and considered".[40] David Ehrlich of IndieWire graded the film A and wrote, "The footage is out there, and it's rarely been assembled into a more concise, powerful, and damning array than it is here. Now it only has to be seen."[41] For RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels wrote, "In the hands of these filmmakers the camera becomes a weapon for truth and resistance, and a tool for conservation—recording some proof that their village existed".[42]
Accolades
The film was ranked third among the top 25 European works of 2024 by the journalists at Cineuropa.[43] It was included on Screen International's list of top documentaries of 2024[44] and on Deadline Hollywood's top 10 documentaries of 2024.[33]
Criticisms and concerns
The film was condemned by both Israeli officials and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, for starkly different reasons.[90][91]
Berlinale
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At the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, No Other Land won the Berlinale Documentary Award and the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film.[7] During his acceptance speech for the Berlinale Documentary Award, Abraham criticized Israel, saying:[92]
We are standing in front of you now—me and Basel are the same age. I am Israeli; Basel is Palestinian. And in two days we will go back to a land where we are not equal. I am living under a civilian law and Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another, but I have voting rights; Basel is not having voting rights. I'm free to move where I want in this land; Basel is, like millions of Palestinians, locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it has to end.
In his acceptance speech, Adra said:[93]
It's our first movie since many years. My community, my family has been filming our community being erased by this brutal occupation. I am here celebrating the award, but also very hard for me to celebrate when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza. Masafer Yatta, my community, is being also razed by Israeli bulldozers. I ask one thing: for Germany, as I am in Berlin here, to respect the U.N. calls and stop sending weapons to Israel.
There were numerous pro-Palestine protests during the acceptance speeches and on the red carpet at the Berlinale—including from Golden Bear winner Mati Diop.[8][94] After the closing ceremony on 25 February 2024, an Instagram account linked to the Panorama section published an allegedly official statement from the festival organizers, demanding German authorities to withdraw arms supplies to Israel. Shortly afterward, the Berlinale's main Instagram account stated that the Panorama account had been hacked and announced plans to "file criminal charges against unknown persons".[95] Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said, "Anti-Semitism has no place in Berlin, and that also applies to the art scene", without specifying what parts of the festival he was referring to. On Twitter, Wegner posted, "Berlin is firmly on Israel's side." In their speeches, Adra and Abraham called for a political solution to end the occupation, accused Israel of massacre, and criticised Germany for selling arms to Israel.[94] The organizers said the "filmmakers' statements were independent and should be accepted as long as they respect the legal framework".[96][97]
Abraham told The Guardian, "To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire—and to then be labelled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger"[98] and reported that his family in Israel had evacuated their home after "a right-wing Israeli mob"[99] came in search of him. He was also concerned for the safety of Adra, who had since returned to the West Bank.[98]
Pro-Israeli criticism
Israeli culture minister Miki Zohar denounced the film's 2025 Oscar win as a "sad moment for the world of cinema",[90] adding: "Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art—it is sabotage against the State of Israel, especially in the wake of the October 7th massacre and the ongoing war".[100][91] Roni Aboulafia of the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum called Zohar's remarks "shameful", saying they reflected growing restrictions on free speech in Israel.[90] Jonathan Sacerdoti decried the film's use of an Israeli song, "Ein Li Eretz Acheret" ("I Have No Other Land"), in what he deemed cultural appropriation and erasure of Jewish historical land claims in the region.[101] Israeli NGO Regavim said the film used a "concoction of misrepresentations and outright fabrications".[102]
German culture minister Claudia Roth called Abraham's and Adra's acceptance speeches at the Berlin International Film Festival "shockingly one-sided".[103][104] Senator for cultural affairs Joe Chialo called them "self-righteous anti-Israeli propaganda that has no place on the stages of Berlin". Mayor Kai Wegner called the ceremony antisemitic.[105] Festival director Tricia Tuttle disagreed and affirmed her support for the filmmakers.[106]
Hollywood nonprofit Creative Community for Peace said the film "presents a one-sided, inaccurate narrative that demonizes Israelis and overlooks the rationale behind Israel's security policies in the West Bank".[107] Melanie Phillips said Masafer Yatta was "never under Palestinian Arab control" and claimed Adra had committed arson in Masafer Yatta in 2021 while blaming Jews for the act.[108] Golan Ramraz called the film "a piece of propaganda draped in the trappings of journalism", noting the lack of settlement in the area in the 1980s and offers by Israeli authorities to compromise by allowing limited settlement in the area.[109] Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner called it a "false, one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people".[110]
Pro-Palestinian criticism
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) declared that the film violates the BDS movement's anti-normalization guidelines on interaction with Israelis, saying, "Palestinians do not need validation, legitimation or permission from Israelis to narrate our history, our present, our experiences, our dreams, and our resistance."[91] PACBI also argued that Hollywood has long dehumanized Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, Black people, and Indigenous communities.[111] In an interview with +972 Magazine, the head of the Masafer Yatta village council, Nidal Younis, said he respected PACBI's criticism, but believed that "the pros outweigh the cons, and the film should not be boycotted. It tells our story, the Palestinian story. There is no Israeli story in it. Yuval is a true partner, and so are all the international and Jewish activists who sleep in Masafer Yatta and defend us from settler and army attacks."[112]
Other activists criticized PACBI's statement and endorsed the film, with the head of the Khirbet Susya village council, Jihad Al-Nawaja, saying she did not know "what the BDS people are talking about", calling Abraham "far more Palestinian than most of these online commentators attacking him", and asserting they would not be boycotting the film if they had actually come to live in the village.[112]
Incidents
In February 2025, Adra was beaten by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
On March 24, 2025, co-director Hamdan Ballal was attacked by Israeli settlers at his home in Susiya in the West Bank and left with head injuries. He was taken away from medical care by soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces, who invaded the ambulance that was transporting him and detained him for a day before releasing him.[113][114]
Over 800 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences signed an open letter criticizing the Academy for not publicly supporting Ballal after his arrest. The letter reads, "The targeting of Ballal is not just an attack on one filmmaker—it is an attack on all those who dare to bear witness and tell inconvenient truths."[115]
See also
References
External links
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