As directors Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor took the stage to accept the best documentary Oscar for their work on “No Other Land,” they took the opportunity to make a robust plea for “a political solution” to the war in Gaza.
“We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people,” said Adra, a Palestinian journalist and activist. “About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now. … ‘No Other Land’ reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades and still resist.”
Abraham, an Israeli journalist, spoke at length about why their film was a collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians. “We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger,” he said. “We see each other, the destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of October 7th, which must be freed.”
Made by an Israeli-Palestinian collective, the documentary follows a Palestinian family as the Israeli government displaces them from their home in the West Bank. In the face of the destruction that occurs and the lives lost, Adra and Abraham form an unexpected friendship.
In his speech, Abraham noted that he and Adra live “unequal” lives. “We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control,” he said. “There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.
Abraham continued that U.S. foreign policy under the administration of President Donald Trump “is helping to block this path.”
“Why can’t you see that we are intertwined, that my people can be truly safe if basil’s people are truly free and safe?” he said.
Since “No Other Land” premiered at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, earning top documentary jury and audience prizes, the doc has been one of the most acclaimed titles of the year, going on to play at the Toronto, Vancouver and New York film festivals.
Last February, film critic Guy Lodge wrote in his review for Variety that “the filmmaking here is tight and considered,” noting how while the film is undeniably timely, it “underlines that the situation has been at crisis point for a long time, whether or not it’s been grabbing international headlines.”
Despite the film’s critical acclaim and Oscar win, it still remains without a U.S. distributor. In January, Abraham told Variety that he took the lack of distribution “as something that’s completely political. We’re obviously talking about the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, and it’s very ugly…The conversation in the United States appears to be far less nuanced — there is much less space for this kind of criticism, even when it comes in the form of a film.”
“No Other Land” had a limited theatrical run in New York City starting Jan. 31 and Los Angeles starting Feb. 7.
From Variety US