The Palestinian-Israeli documentary “No Other Land,” which spotlights the Palestinian experience in the West Bank’s occupied Masafer Yatta community, won Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.
Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Jewish Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham accepted the award for the film, which at present does not have a U.S. distributor and documents the community between 2019 and 2023.
Production ended in the days prior to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 civilians and taking 251 people hostage. The ambush started the war in Gaza, whose Health Ministry said has left over 46,000 Palestinians dead as of early January.
New father Adra expressed his hope that his daughter “will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements.”
Abraham called for the release of the remaining hostages, an end to the occupation, and for the world to facilitate a two-state solution to enable both Israel and Palestine to not just exist but thrive. He also stated that U.S. foreign policy is doing what it can to “block” such peacemaking measures.
“No Other Land” beat out “Black Box Diaries,” “Porcelain War,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État” and “Sugarcane” for Best Documentary Feature.
With News Wire Services
