No Other Land

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.

No Other Land
Festival release poster
Directed by	Basel Adra Hamdan Ballal Yuval Abraham Rachel Szor
Written by	Basel Adra Hamdan Ballal Yuval Abraham Rachel Szor
Produced by	Fabien Greenberg Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematography	Rachel Szor
Edited by	Basel Adra Hamdan Ballal Yuval Abraham Rachel Szor
Music by	Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Production companies	Yabayay Media Antipode Films
Release date	17 February 2024 (2024-02-17) (Berlinale)
Running time	95 minutes
Countries	Palestine Norway
Languages	Arabic Hebrew English

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, winning the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film, and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.

Premise

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."

About filming Abraham said:

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.

Release

No Other Land had its world premiere on 16 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Panorama.

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. 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.

The film was also presented in the International Documentaries section of the 71st Sydney Film Festival on June 13, 2024. It was also screened in 'Horizons' at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 28 June 2024.

It was selected in TIFF Docs at 2024 Toronto International Film Festival where it was screened on September 12 2024. It will be screened in 'Showcase' at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival on 28 September 2024. It was also selected in Documentary Showcase at the 29th Busan International Film Festival and screened on October 3, 2024. It also made it to Main Slate of 2024 New York Film Festival and was screened at the Lincoln Center in October 2024.

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. However, its screenings were cancelled as the festival could not receive the 'required permissions' in time.

The film was also selected in the Standpoint section of the 35th Singapore International Film Festival and was screened on 4 December 2024.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an an approval rating of 100% based on 40 reviews. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim".

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."

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."

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."

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..."

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."

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".

Accolades

The film received Special citation at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2024 on December 16, 2024.

Award	Date	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Berlin International Film Festival	25 February 2024	Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film	No Other Land	Won
		Berlinale Documentary Film Award		Won
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival	22 March 2024	Audience Award		Won
Visions du Réel	19 April 2024	Audience Award		Won
Millennium Docs Against Gravity	16 May 2024	Grand Prix Bank Millennium Award		Won
		Audience Award		Won
Vancouver International Film Festival	6 October 2024	Audience Award – Showcase		Won
Busan International Film Festival	11 October 2024	Busan Cinephile Award		Won
Chicago International Film Festival	27 October 2024	Gold Hugo – Documentary Competition		Nominated
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	30 November 2024	Best Documentary Film	Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning	Won
Montreal International Documentary Festival	1 December 2024	People's Choice Award (Prix du Public)		Won
Gotham Awards	2 December 2024	Best Documentary Feature		Won
New York Film Critics Circle	3 December 2024	Best Non-Fiction Film	No Other Land	Won
National Board of Review Awards	5 December 2024	NBR Freedom of Expression Award		Won
International Documentary Association Awards	5 December 2024	Best Feature Documentary	Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning	Won
		Best Director	Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, and Yuval Abraham	Won
		Courage Under Fire Award		Won
European Film Awards	7 December 2024	European Film	No Other Land	Shortlisted
		European Documentary		Won
British Independent Film Awards	8 December 2024	Best International Independent Film	Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Fabrien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning	Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics	8 December 2024	Best Documentary Film	No Other Land	Won
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	8 December 2024	Best Documentary		Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association	8 December 2024	Best Documentary Film		Won
St. Louis Film Critics Association	15 December 2024	Best Documentary Feature		Won
Seattle Film Critics Society	16 December 2024	Best Documentary Feature	Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor	Won
San Diego Film Critics Society	9 December 2024	Best Foreign Language Film	No Other Land	Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association	11 December 2024	Best Documentary Film		Won
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle	15 December 2024	Best Documentary Feature		Nominated
Cinema Eye Honors	9 January 2025	Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature	Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor, Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Julius Pollux Rothlaender and Bård Harazi Farbu	Pending
		Outstanding Direction	Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor	Pending
		Outstanding Debut		Pending
		Outstanding Production	Fabien Greenberg and Bård Kjøge Rønning	Pending
		The Unforgettables	Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra	Won

Berlinale

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. During their acceptance speeches for the Berlinale Documentary Award, Abraham criticized Israel saying:

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.

Adra, in his acceptance speech, said:

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. 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”. 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." 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".

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," and reported that his family in Israel had evacuated their home after "a right-wing Israeli mob" came in search of him. He was also concerned for the safety of Adra, who had since returned to the West Bank.

External links

• No Other Land at IMDb 
• No Other Land at Film-documentaire.fr
• No Other Land at Berlinale