“I’m five years old. My first memory. A light woke me up. This was my father’s first arrest.” Basel, now 28, carries the one weapon he is allowed – a camera. He marches up to the enemy expelling people from family homes, owned since the early 1800s, before they are bulldozed and flattened into the earth. He shouts, “I am filming you!”
He easily becomes known by the cruel adversaries. In the dark of night they return, ransacking houses, and hunting for Basel. He lives in the yin and yang of fear and anger, alternating with courage and victory.
His photographs and reports are gaining a wider audience. He has been filming for at least 10 years. His name is Basel Adra.
At some point, Yuval Abraham comes from the enemy’s land to join Adra. He is an investigative journalist, film director, and Arabic–Hebrew translator. Since the debut of the film, he has become a speaker on pro-equality, anti-apartheid, and settler violence issues in the West Bank. That is a testament to the effect of Adra’s dogged documentation and determined message.
Adra’s only hope is that the West will see his footage and be inspired to intervene, as they once did when Tony Blair came to visit their school, saving it and the surrounding homes from the uncaring bulldozers – for a little while.
“No Other Land” was created by a consortium of four Palestinian-Israeli activists and a Norwegian production company. Their effort is promoted “as an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice.” They were awarded the 2024 International Documentary Association’s Courage Under Fire Award.
“No Other Land,” also on the 2025 Oscar documentary eligibility list, will probably be considered as a finalist in the Best Documentary Oscar contest for its cinéma verité style.
Run without a map showing the original 1948 carving up of Israel, and without UN references, “No Other Land” focuses on what’s happening now. The film shows the audience the tenacity the Palestinians have for their land – and their No Exit predicament. Even if they wanted to leave, where would they go and what money would they use to survive?
“No Other Land” is disturbing. It is also an important addition to the history of the Zionist state and the repercussions of Western intervention.
Credits
Written, Directed, Produced and Edited by: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szo
Executive Produced by Fabien Greenberg & Bård Kjøge Rønning
Editorial Consultant: Anne Fabini
Photography: Rachel Szor
Sound Design: Bard Harazi Farbu
Music: Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Production Companies: Antipode Films and Yabayay
Production Countries: Palestine|Norway
Financed by: FrittOrd, Sundance Institute, IMS, and IDFA BerthaFund
Released: 2024
Official Website: https://www.autlookfilms.com/films/no-other-land
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