New Delhi:
The Israeli-Palestinian documentary, No Other Land, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.
The film was competing against Black Box Diaries, Porcelain War, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat and Sugarcane.
Directors Basel Adrra and journalist Yuval Abraham accepted the award on their team’s behalf.
Congratulations to NO OTHER LAND, this year’s Best Documentary Feature Film! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/VHY12iych9
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 3, 2025
Here are 10 key points on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
1. No Other Land is an Israeli-Palestinian collaboration.
2. The film has been directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballala, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
3. No Other Land shows Basel resisting the forced displacement of his people by the Israeli army in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta. His pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.
4. The documentary highlights the ongoing struggle of Palestinians to remain in their land despite facing constant threats of eviction, highlighting their acts of resistance through documentation and community solidarity.
5. No Other Land was filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before Hamas launched its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza.
6. The film is heavily reliant on camcorder footage from Basel Adra’s personal archive. He captured Israeli soldiers, bulldozing the village school and filling water wells with cement to prevent people from rebuilding.
7. No Other Land was selected for the Panorama section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it premiered on February 16, 2024.
8. It won the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award at the event.
9. The documentary has received acclaim for its powerful portrayal of the Palestinian experience under occupation, winning accolades at the Berlin International Film Festival, Gotham Awards and from major critics’ groups in New York and Los Angeles.
10. After being picked up for distribution in 24 countries, the film has still not found a distributor in the US.
