‘No Other Land,' Whose Politics Deterred Distributors, Wins Best Documentary
Accepting the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday night, two filmmakers behind 'No Other Land,' which chronicles Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the southern West Bank, called on the world to work to help halt the 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians, free the remaining Israeli hostages captured in 'the crime of Oct. 7' and chart a more equitable path forward for Palestinians.
'When I look at Basel, I see my brother,' said Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist and one of the filmmakers, referring to his fellow director, the Palestinian activist Basel Adra, who had just spoken. 'But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws, that destroy lives, that he cannot control.'
Adra said that their film 'reflects the harsh reality we have been enduring for decades and still resist, as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.'
The selection of 'No Other Land' for best documentary feature represented a landmark and a rebuke. Despite a string of honors and rave reviews, no distributor would pick up this film in the United States, making it nearly impossible for American filmgoers to see it in theaters or to stream it. This shortcoming made 'No Other Land' part of a broader trend in recent years in which topical documentaries have struggled to secure distribution.
The film is often brutal, featuring disturbing images of razed houses, crying children, bereft mothers and even on-camera shootings. And it entered a perennially supercharged political climate at an especially sensitive moment, debuting within months of Hamas's attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel's response in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
The politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are especially prominent in Hollywood. Last year, the entertainment executive Ari Emanuel, who is Jewish, drew boos after criticizing Israel's conservative prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, while accepting an award from a major Jewish group in Los Angeles.
And at last year's Oscars ceremony, the British director Jonathan Glazer, who is also Jewish, compared aspects of his Holocaust film, 'The Zone of Interest,' to elements of the present conflict — an acceptance speech that provoked dueling letters condemning and defending it. At the same ceremony, some attendees wore pins distributed by Artists4Ceasefire, a group that was then calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
At this year's ceremony, the speeches by Adra and Abraham, who were joined onstage by their two other directors, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, were greeted with applause. The Australian actor Guy Pearce, a best supporting actor nominee who wore a 'Free Palestine' lapel pin on the Oscars red carpet, could be seen on television encouraging the filmmakers on as they passed him on their way to the stage.
During his acceptance speech, Abraham seemed aware of the prominent stage he had. Calling for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that provides national rights for both peoples, he said, 'I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.'
Abraham also seemed to allude to an old slogan of the Israeli left: '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.'
Here are the full acceptance speeches:
BASEL ADRA
Thank you to the Academy for the award. It's such a big honor for the four of us and everybody who supported us for this documentary. About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I am living now, always fearing violence, home demolitions, forced displacement that my community, Masafer Yatta, is facing every day. 'No Other Land' reflects the harsh reality we have been enduring for decades and still resist as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.
YUVAL ABRAHAM
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 Oct. 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 and Basel is under military laws, that destroy lives, that he cannot control. 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.
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