No Other Land can lay claim to be one of the most important documentary of the year.
A timely, powerful, and as The Hollywood Reporter critic Lovia Gyarkye put it in her Berlin review, “devastating portrait” of life under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, the film was shot over five years by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli activists. They chronicle the systematic destruction of the West Bank village of Masafer Yatta, a stand-in for countless homes and communities bulldozed to make way for Israeli settlers.
Shot in a straightforward verité manner, somber and un-sensationalized, No Other Land makes a moral case for an end to the occupation of the West Bank and sharply condemns Western powers, primarily the United States, for continuing to support Israel with arms and aid while turning a blind eye to its treatment of Palestinians.
The film premiered in Berlin where it won the prize for best documentary and the audience award of the Panorama section. It also generated controversy when one of the film’s co-directors, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, decried what he called a “situation of Apartheid” on the West Bank that meant his Palestinian directing partners did not enjoy the same freedom of movement, or the voting rights, that he enjoyed.
Fear of further controversy or a backlash from pro-Israeli supporters appears to have scared off U.S. distributors. No Other Land has sold widely in Europe but is still looking for a domestic deal.
Buyers should be more courageous. No Other Land is neither polemic nor propaganda, and it offers no easy solutions. But amid the stories of destruction and despair, the film also promises a vision of a better world, of a future where Israelis and Palestinians, like the directors of this documentary, can work together towards justice and freedom. Cinetic Media and Autlook Film Sales are handling international sales for the film.
Check out the trailer for No Other Land below.
