No Other Land is a 2024 documentary film directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor in their directorial debut. The film was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists as an act of resistance on the path to justice during the ongoing conflict in the region.[2][3]
A co-production between Palestine and Norway, the film was selected for the Panorama section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 16 February 2024,[4] winning the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film,[5] and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.[6]
A young Palestinian activist named Basel Adra has been resisting the forced displacement of his people by Israel's military in Masafer Yatta, a region in the West Bank, since he was a child. He records the gradual destruction of his homeland, where Israeli soldiers are tearing down homes and evicting their inhabitants. He befriends Yuval, an Israeli journalist who helps him in his struggle. They form an unexpected bond, but their friendship is challenged by the huge gap between their living conditions: Basel faces constant oppression and violence, while Yuval enjoys freedom and security.
Production
In an interview at the Berlinale, Adra and Abraham spoke with Variety about the film.
Basel Adra spoke about development of the film. He said, "Yuval and Rachel, who are Israelis, came five years ago to write about things — Yuval is journalist — we met and we became friends but also activists together, working on articles about the area." He further said, "And then we got the idea of doing this, of creating this movie."
Basal’s family and neighbors had a huge archive of videos that were filmed over the course of 20 years. And then we as activists, we were there on the ground together, working together for almost five years, and we filmed a lot. We had Rachel, the cinematographer and co-director of the film, who was shooting us. So there was an abundance of footage. The military entered Basal’s home twice and confiscated computers and cameras. So we were always very, very stressed. It was complicated logistically and quite stressful, but in the end we managed.
The documentary was filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production in October 2023.[10]
The film had its international premiere at Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival on 15 March 2024, in the section "Urgent Matters" and the "Conflicted" theme.[13] It featured in the "Popular Front(s)" in the 46th Cinéma du Réel Festival that took place from 22 to March 31, 2024 in Paris.[14]
The film was selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 under the World Cinema section, where it was to have its South Asia premiere.[23][better source needed] However, its screenings were cancelled as the festival could not receive the "required permissions" in time.[24]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 46 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "An elegantly assembled diary of the Palestinian experience, No Other Land is a harrowing document that leaves traces of hope for a better future."[26]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[27]
Olivia Popp, reviewing the film at Berlinale for Cineuropa, wrote: "No Other Land is at its best when it achieves cinematographic mobility, the camera acting as an extension of this activist interrogation of violent Israeli occupation and not as a detached observer."[28]
Lovia Gyarkye reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as "A devastating portrait," and opined, "The film is not a document of solutions, but it does position itself as a step in the movement toward a future where Palestinians are just as free as Israelis."[29]
Jonathan Romney, reviewing the film at Berlinale, wrote in ScreenDaily: "A documentary that is particularly urgent and eye-opening in the context of the current Israeli–Palestinian conflict."[30]
Guy Lodge writing in Variety said, "Given the conditions of its production, No Other Land would be vital even in a more ragged form. But the filmmaking here is tight and considered..."[31]
David Ehrlich of IndieWire reviewing at Berlinale graded the film A and wrote, "The footage is out there, and it’s rarely been assembled into a more concise, powerful, and damning array than it is here. Now it only has to be seen."[32]
Writing for RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels said, "In the hands of these filmmakers the camera becomes a weapon for truth and resistance, and a tool for conservation — recording some proof that their village existed".[33]
Accolades
The film was ranked 3rd among the top 25 European works of 2024 by the journalists at Cineuropa.[34]
Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, Berlinale Documentary Award
At the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, No Other Land won the Berlinale Documentary Award and the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film.[5] During their acceptance speeches for the Berlinale Documentary Award, Abraham criticized Israel saying:[68]
We are standing in front of you now, me and Basel are the same age. I am Israeli; Basel is Palestinian. And in two days we will go back to a land where we are not equal. I am living under a civilian law and Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another, but I have voting rights. Basel is not having voting rights. I’m free to move where I want in this land. Basel is, like millions of Palestinians, locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it has to end.
It’s our first movie since many years my community, my family has been filming our community being erased by this brutal occupation. I am here celebrating the award, but also very hard for me to celebrate when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza. Masafer Yatta, my community, is being also razed by Israeli bulldozers. I ask one thing: for Germany, as I am in Berlin here, to respect the U.N. calls and stop sending weapons to Israel.
The Berlinale also featured other numerous pro-Palestine protests during the acceptance speeches and red carpet — including from Golden Bear winner Mati Diop.[6][70] Following the closing ceremony on 25 February 2024, an Instagram account linked to the Panorama section published an allegedly official statement from the Festival organizers, demanding German authorities to withdraw its arms supplies to Israel. Shortly afterwards, the Berlinale's main Instagram account stated that the Panorama account had been hacked, and announced plans to “file criminal charges against unknown persons”.[71]Berlin Mayor, Kai Wegner, and numerous others German politicians expressed outrage, calling the speeches "anti-semitic", with Wegner stating on Twitter that "Berlin is firmly on Israel’s side."[70] Even though the Festival is mainly funded by the German government, the organizers affirmed the "filmmakers' statements were independent and should be accepted as long as they respect the legal framework".[72][73]
Abraham said to The Guardian, "To stand on German soil as the son of Holocaust survivors and call for a ceasefire – and to then be labelled as antisemitic is not only outrageous, it is also literally putting Jewish lives in danger,"[74] and reported that his family in Israel had evacuated their home after "a right-wing Israeli mob"[75] came in search of him. He was also concerned for the safety of Adra, who had since returned to the West Bank.[74]
^The film shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta community by Israeli soldiers. Adra, Basel (22 January 2024). "No Other Land". Cineuropa. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
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