A Palestinian film produced by a Palestinian journalist and an Israeli film director has earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary on Thursday at the 97th Academy Awards.
‘No Other Land’, nominated under the documentary feature film category, centres around the struggles Palestinian journalist Basel Adra faces as he tries to save his occupied West Bank village from Jewish settlers.
The film is a production by Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham and garnered widespread acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival, the International Documentary Association and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.Â
The West Bank village of Masafer Yatta, which the film focuses on, has long been attacked by Israeli settlers and its residents forcibly expelled in what has been heavily condemned by human rights groups.Â
Earlier this year, Adra told reporters he would love to see the film earn an Oscar nomination to help spread awareness on the issues it highlights and also to help find a US distributor for it.Â
“I really advise everybody in the US who has heard about No Other Land to watch it. It’s important for people to watch it so they can understand what’s going on” he told Variety.
“…Don’t just watch it to feel sad or sorry for us, but to join our struggle and our movement and take action. Especially in the US which, as a country, is a main player in what’s going on” he continued.
He also called on people to take action and join the campaign to save Palestinian residents from being pushed out of their homes and their land forcibly taken.
“Americans have a responsibility, I believe, and I hope that they watch it and move in the right direction and take any action they can in order to help us change,” he said.
Oscar nominations
Meanwhile, other films which made a splash at the event include cartel musical “Emilia Perez” which topped this year’s Oscar nominations, earning 13 nods.
French director Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set movie, released by Netflix, shattered the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a non-English-language film.
It was followed by the immigrant saga “The Brutalist,” and the Broadway adaptation “Wicked,” which each picked up 10 nominations.
Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” and Vatican thriller “Conclave” bagged eight nods apiece.
Voting deadlines had to be extended this month, as Los Angeles – the US entertainment capital and home city of the Academy Awards – was devastated by multiple blazes that have killed more than two dozen people and forced tens of thousands to flee.
“This has certainly been a difficult time for Los Angeles, where many members of our film community industry work and live,” said Academy present Janet Yang, introducing Thursday’s announcement.
Even so, the glitzy Oscars ceremony itself is still set for 2 March, capping months and millions of dollars of campaigning for golden statuettes.
