The Palestinian-Israeli documentary No Other Land won the Best Documentary Feature award at the 96th Academy Awards (known commonly as the Oscars) on 3 March 2025, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The film, a rare collaboration between co-directors, Palestinians Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, chronicles Adra’s fight to save his hometown in Masafer Yatta, a region designated as an Israeli military training zone, while exposing systemic inequalities faced by Palestinians.
During their acceptance speech, Adra and Abraham delivered impassioned pleas for equality and political change. Adra, whose own home was demolished during filming, dedicated the award to displaced families: “We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
Abraham, addressing the disparity in their lived realities, stated: “When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal. I am free under civilian law; Basel lives under military law that destroys his life. There is another path—a political solution without ethnic supremacy.”
Abraham also criticized U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, accusing it of obstructing peace: “The foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. My people can only be safe if Basel’s people are free.” Adra, who became a father two months before the ceremony, shared a personal hope: “My daughter should not live in fear of settlers, violence, or home demolitions.”
Filmed from 2019–2023 concluding days before the war on Gaza erupted on 7 October 2023, No Other Land combines Adra’s camcorder footage with Abraham’s journalistic lens to document the destruction of Masafer Yatta with scenes ranging from Israeli soldiers bulldozing a village school and filling water wells with cement to prevent rebuilding to a Palestinian man paralyzed after being shot by soldiers during a protest, later cared for by his mother in a cave.
Adra’s efforts to amplify his community’s struggle by collaborating with Abraham, who faces skepticism from Palestinians critical of his Israeli privileges.
Despite its festival success—including an Audience Award at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival—the documentary struggled to secure a U.S. distributor. Abraham told Deadline: “U.S. distributors passed for political reasons. We released it independently in nearly 100 theaters.”
The Oscar win also drew condemnation from Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar, who labeled it a “sad moment for cinema” and accused the film of “defaming Israel.” In contrast, global audiences and activists praised its unflinching portrayal of occupation.
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