Why no US release for Palestinian-Israeli documentary hailed as one of 2024’s best?
Team behind film depicting Palestinian life in Israeli-occupied West Bank yet to find a US distributor. They blame politics and US election
Basel Adra, a Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli, spent five years making a movie that depicts daily life in Adra’s village under Israeli occupation. The resulting film, No Other Land, has been hailed as one of the year’s most powerful documentaries, winning prizes at international film festivals.
It has also stoked controversy, prompted death threats for its makers and – despite the acclaim – remains without an American distributor.
Opening in cinemas this week in the United Kingdom, having opened in France last week, the feature-length documentary has already sold in many international territories.
Its status as an Academy Awards contender remains intact – after hosting it during the New York Film Festival, the Lincoln Center is screening the film for a one-week, Oscar-qualifying run.
Can we not have one distributor with the courage, OK, to take a certain risk, but to distribute such an acclaimed and such an important documentary?
“Maybe they’re afraid to be defunded if Trump wins,” says Abraham, speaking in an interview from Paris alongside Adra. “But Basel risked his life for years since he was a young boy to film this material. That requires a lot of courage.
