NPR: The 2025 Oscars: Heavy on speeches, light on politics, and one big winner
In January, Justin Chang wrote that No Other Land "brings us into Masafer Yatta, a community of Palestinian villages in the Israeli-occupied southern West Bank, which is being bulldozed by the Israeli military to make room for a tank training ground." He also said the film, made by a team of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, was "the most powerful nonfiction film [he] saw in 2024." Then, as now, it lacked U.S. distribution; as of mid-February, the filmmakers were self-distributing to a few movie theaters. The filmmakers spoke powerfully from the Oscar stage about not only the destruction depicted in the film, but also their frustration with U.S. foreign policy. It is now almost certainly the most decorated film of last year not to be widely available in the United States.
No Other Land
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CNN: Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers make defiant speech after winning best documentary Oscar
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“No Other Land” tells the story of the continued demolition by Israeli authorities of Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the Hebron mountains of the West Bank where Basel Adra, one of the directors, lives with his family.
The documentary follows the Israeli government’s attempt to evict the villagers by force, having claimed the land for a military training facility and firing range in 1981. Viewers see the local playground being torn down, the killing of Adra’s brother by Israeli soldiers, and other attacks by Jewish settlers while the community tries to survive... READ MOREhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/03/03/entertainment/no-other-land-palestine-israel-oscar-win-intl-hnk/index.html
‘No Other Land’ Oscar winners call for a different path on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
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| Basel Adra, from left, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham accept the award for best documentary feature film for “No Other Land” during the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) |
The filmmakers behind ‘No Other Land,’ which won the Oscar for best documentary, called for a different path forward to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in their acceptance speech Sunday.
“There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people,” said Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham, in his acceptance speech.
“And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path,” Abraham continued, knocking President Trump’s approach to foreign policy.
The film is a collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians, and it follows activist Basel Adra as he documents the destruction of his hometown at the southern edge of the West Bank, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone, according to The Associated Press. Adra then befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist to help tell his story.
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger. We see each other, the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed,” Abraham said on stage.
“When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal,” he
continued. “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.” .... READ MORE https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5172274-no-other-land-oscar-winners-call-for-a-different-path-on-israeli-palestinian-conflict/
No Other Land directors criticise US as they accept documentary Oscar: ‘US foreign policy is helping block the path’ to peace
Self-distributed film about Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community beat out Porcelain War and Sugarcane
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/03/no-other-land-wins-best-documentary-feature-oscar
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| Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham in No Other Land. Photograph: Antipode Films |
Speaking to a standing ovation, the film-makers thanked the Academy before co-director Basel Adra said he had recently become a father and hoped his daughter’s life would not be like his – “always fearing certain violence, home demolitions and forced displacement”.
He continued by saying his film reflected “the harsh reality” that his fellow Palestinians had endured for many years, “as we call on the world to take serious action to stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.
Co-director Yuval Abraham then took to the stage to say that Palestinians and Israelis had made the film together “because together our voices are stronger. We see each other the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people must end.
“Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of October 7 which must be freed. 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 but Basel has to live under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control.
He continued: “There is a different path. A political solution. Without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.
“Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly
safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe. There is another way.
It’s not too late for life, for the living. There is no other way.” ...READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/03/no-other-land-wins-best-documentary-feature-oscar
