‘No Other Land’: Palestinian Documentary Wins Oscar

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- “No Other Land,” a documentary about Israel’s forced displacement of a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, won the Oscar for Best Documentary on Sunday.

The documentary follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest by Israel to document the destruction of his hometown in the West Bank, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone.

The film accurately portrays the horrors meted out by the Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank but overlooks how Israeli society supports the subjugation of Palestinians.

The harsh realities Palestinians face while resisting displacement in the occupied West Bank village of Masafer Yatta are on full display, with Palestinian Basel Adra, who began filming the Israeli occupation of his village in Masafer Yatta at the age of 15, and Israeli activist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham, giving the audience heart-felt accounts of multiple house demolitions.

The filmmakers show Israeli forces telling Palestinian families time after time that their homes are now suddenly illegal and in an Israeli “military zone”.

We see the terror that settlers unleash on the community and the unprovoked assaults – and even killings – that target any form of protest against injustices, ensuring that those who have seen the film will have these traumatising images etched into their minds.

For decades, Israeli occupation authorities have tried to forcibly displace its 1,000 or so Palestinian inhabitants to create a military “firing zone”, or training ground for Israeli forces.

“No Other Land” came into the night a top contender after a successful run on the film festival circuit. It did not, however, find a U.S. distributor after being picked up for distribution in 24 countries. For the Oscar, it beat out “Porcelain War,” “Sugarcane,” “Black Box Diaries” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.”

“About two months ago, I became a father,” Adra said Sunday during his acceptance speech . “My hope to my daughter (is) that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements. We call on the world to take serious actions.”

"No Other Land" director Basel Adra: "We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people." | #Oscars pic.twitter.com/NzoqLKiBSJ

— Variety (@Variety) March 3, 2025