March 3, 2025 (EIRNS)—The documentary “No Other Land” (see the trailer here has won over 30 major awards from world film festivals and associations of film critics, but in the U.S. it could not even arrange a film distributor. Even streaming platforms refuse to offer it (last year Netflix removed 24 Palestinian films from its archives). But despite these difficulties, it was nominated for an Oscar. It is the highest grossing Oscar-nominated documentary in history, and on March 2, it won the Oscar at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
The film documents the Israeli military occupation, settler violence, and the ethnic cleansing against the small Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta in a rugged rural area in the southern West Bank. The film shows heart-breaking scenes of Israeli bulldozers destroying Palestinian homes and schools, and water wells being filled with cement to force the civilian population out, and to make way for an Israeli military training center. However, the film does not focus on scenes of terror, but rather explores the unlikely friendship that develops between an Israeli and Palestinian, both journalists who seek justice in Palestine. The message is not one of hate, but the possibilities generated in cooperation.
Masafer Yatta is the hometown of Palestinian activist Basel Adra, 28, and much of the film’s footage comes from his personal camcorder, as he documents how his community is being erased from the Earth. The film would become a joint venture with his Israeli friend, journalist Yuval Abraham. Making the film a truly Palestinian and Israeli joint effort, it also was co-directed with Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor.
