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SvennoJ 6 days ago
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Israeli minister terms Oscar win for No Other Land a ‘sad moment’

Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar says the Oscar win for the Palestinian-Israeli documentary No Other Land is a “sad moment for the world of cinema”.

The documentary, which chronicles Israel’s demolitions in the occupied West Bank village of Masafer Yatta, was produced between 2019 and 2023 and follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown.



What Oscar-winning No Other Land is about, where you can watch it

No Other Land, which chronicles settler violence and the Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, won the Oscar for best documentary on Sunday night.

The film has won dozens of prizes since its release last year, including at the Berlin Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.



The film was produced from 2019 to 2023 and comprises mostly personal camcorder footage filmed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra, 28, who documents the Israeli military’s destruction of his hometown, Masafer Yatta in a small, rugged region in the southern occupied West Bank.

The film highlights Israeli demolitions of homes in the village, which the Israeli military wants to turn into a military training zone. Its footage shows the Israeli military razing a school and filling water wells with cement, so residents cannot rebuild.

Adra made the film with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who co-directed it along with Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor.


During his Oscar acceptance speech on Sunday night in Los Angeles, Adra said his film “reflects the harsh reality we have been enduring for decades and still resist as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people”.

“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now.”

Abraham said in his speech: “When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy lives, that he cannot control,” he said.

The film was released months after deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered Israel’s war on Gaza.

At least 1,100 people were killed in the attacks in Israel, and about 240 people were taken captive. By the time a ceasefire took effect in Gaza on January 19, more than 48,000 Palestinians had been killed in the war. An estimated 13,000 additional people are buried under the rubble and are presumed dead. Rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide.

Studios and distributors in the United States have refused to pick up the film. Even online streaming platforms in the US have not shown interest despite No Other Land being the highest grossing Oscar-nominated documentary.

Last year, the online streaming giant Netflix removed 24 Palestinian films from its archive, drawing accusations that Hollywood and the US media are suppresing Palestinian voices.

Abraham told The New York Times in an interview published on February 19: “In the US, so many people are writing us, ‘How can we watch it?’ So we decided to do the theatrical release independently, and it’s now going to show in about 100 theatres in the US.”

He added that he hopes a distributor would pick up his documentary.

Streaming links are few and far between. While there are links to rent or buy the documentary on Amazon UK, Microsoft, Sky Store and AppleTV, it is unclear which regions the documentary is available in.




This is the first time a Palestinian filmmaker has won an Oscar.

In 2006, the film Paradise Now, made by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, was nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign language film with the country of origin being “the Palestinian territories”. In 2014, Abu-Assad’s film Omar was also nominated in the same category. This marked the first time the country of origin in the nomination was stated as Palestine. 

Since then, other Palestinian films have been nominated for the awards but have not won.

This year, two other Palestinian films besides No Other Land were shortlisted but not nominated. From Ground Zero, a collection of 22 films made in Gaza, was shortlisted for the best international film award. An Orange from Jaffa highlights the perils faced by Palestinians due to Israeli checkpoints. It was shortlisted for the live action short film category.


Activists protest BBC’s pulling of Gaza documentary

Pro-Palestine activists have projected the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone onto a BBC building in Glasgow after the British broadcaster removed the film from its streaming service.

The activist group Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee called the BBC’s decision “shameful”, writing in a post on social media: “We’re showing it right back to them. For the children of Gaza.”

The film, which aired on BBC Two in February, follows 13-year-old Abdullah al-Yazouri as he describes his life in Gaza.

The BBC said it pulled the documentary from iPlayer in late February after it emerged that the film’s narrator was the son of a Hamas official.


Last edited by SvennoJ - 6 days ago