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After a night at the Oscars that was unusually devoid of political statements and speeches, one winner made a strong and hopeful statement about the Middle East.
The winner of Best Documentary Feature 2025 was No Other Land, a film produced between 2019 and 2023 and follows Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, as he documents the destruction of Masafer Yatta—the town in the south of the West Bank that he calls home. Israeli soldiers demolished the town to use the area as a military training zone.
It is only when Adra meets Yuval Abraham, a Jewish-Israeli journalist, that his voice and story are amplified. In their acceptance speech, delivered to a standing ovation of Hollywood’s finest, they sought to remind everyone that “together, our voices are stronger” and that without their unlikely friendship, the documentary wouldn’t have been made, let alone win an Academy Award.
Abraham used his acceptance speech to criticise the Israeli government for destroying the lives of so many of Adra’s compatriots and advocated for an alternative “political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.” He also criticised the United States government, stating that “the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path.” The United States is the world’s foremost supporter of the Israeli state, backing it both financially and militarily despite repeated international criticism of Israel’s human rights record. Abraham advocated later in his speech for the peaceful return of Israeli hostages by Hamas amid the current ceasefire between the two sides of the conflict.
Human rights groups regard the situation in the West Bank as apartheid, with more than five-hundred thousand Israeli settlers living in the occupied region, which is home to an estimated three million Palestinians. The settlers have more rights, including Israeli citizenship, while Palestinians live under military rule, with the Palestinian Authority administering population centres.
The film itself is heavily reliant on camcorder footage filmed personally by Adra. The documentary depicts Israeli soldiers bulldozing the village school and emptying concrete into water wells to ensure that no one can rebuild Masafer Yatta.
Adra describes life in the West Bank as “always fearing settler violence, home demolitions, and forced displacement.” Since the attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7th 2023, more than two million Palestinians have been displaced similarly to Adra, and he wanted this film to show how dangerous it can be to be Palestinian in the region.
The win ensures that the documentary will be enshrined in history and increases pressure for it to be made available in the United States, allowing more people to experience such an important film.
Image: Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Basel Adra, and Yuval Abraham accept the award for best documentary feature film, AP Pic, 2024 // CC BY 4.0
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