Could this accolade open up the floodgates for more films made about Palestine — by Palestinians — to be funded, produced, recognised and celebrated in the future, asks Sarah Agha [photo credit: Getty Images]
There have been countless compelling documentaries about the brutality of Israel’s military occupation, the apartheid regime and the ways in which Palestinians consistently find resourceful, inventive ways to organise, protest and resist their conditions. No Other Land is by no means an exceptional production in this respect.
But last night No Other Land swooped up an Oscar for Best Documentary Film at the Academy Awards. The film was co-directed by two Palestinians, activist Bassel Adra and filmmaker Hamdan Ballal alongside Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Israeli director of photography Rachel Szor.
Despite the production being a collaboration between the occupier and the occupied, one of the strengths of the documentary is that it presents the fact that there is a clear victim in the context of Israel and Palestine.
But the Palestinians are not merely portrayed as passive victims facing a hopeless, pitiful fate. Rather the determined Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta reject their subjugation and resist on a daily basis – literally risking their lives to rebuild from the rubble and march against the aggression of armed occupation forces.
What makes No Other Land different and influential is the fact that it burst into the mainstream discourse, unlike many other brilliant documentaries before it.
It is almost undeniable that the participation of Israeli co-directors makes the documentary more palatable to programmers who might otherwise have been apprehensive about accusations of bias, partiality or worse.
The documentary as a standalone piece is incredibly powerful, expertly crafted and full of damning evidence of the Israeli government’s systematic destruction of Palestinian life.
It offers a clear visual of settler colonialism. We witness repeated school and house demolitions and it explains the apartheid regime in which Palestinians are subjected to living on one side of the separation wall under a discriminatory permit and checkpoint system.
A particularly harrowing scene depicts a peaceful Palestinian protester shot and paralysed for life. It also reveals the banality of the occupation, as Palestinians strive to hide the cement to rebuild their homes, as though it were a weapon.
The visuals quickly dispel the insidious fabrication that Palestinians leave their land voluntarily, but rather they are being systematically forced out by bulldozers, soldiers and violent armed settlers.
When Bassel Adra accepted his Oscar on stage, he referred defiantly to “the harsh realities we have been enduring for decades…we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”
When his Israeli counterpoint took to the stage, I could not help but feel a degree of cynicism chiefly because it remains unclear where his politics on Zionism lie. A quick scan over some of Yuval’s previous tweets regurgitating unsubstantiated allegations might suggest not all of his opinions are as progressive as we would hope.
Apologists can choose to intellectualise definitions of Zionism but objectively every manifestation of Zionism from 1948 to today has only ever resulted in the mass expulsions of Palestinians to mass murder on an industrial scale, as we have seen recently in Gaza.
It has never been more clear that being critical of the occupation is not enough.
A recent MUBI article astutely remarked that Yuval “attributes those horrors to the occupation rather than to Zionism. His condemnation of the former serves to preserve the latter…A settler has come to help the natives, hoping to redeem himself and, implicitly, the horizons of the settler-state.”
Subscribe Now and Listen to our Podcasts OnBut regardless of the potential intentions of the Israeli filmmakers for championing the cause, last night’s success is an unprecedented win and the film is a testament to the resilience and steadfastness of the people in Masafer Yatta.
In the film Bassel Adra declares, “I believe we can stop the expulsions. If we are active and document on the ground it will force the United States to pressure Israel.”
It is worth noting here that despite its careful and strategic framing, No Other Land has so far failed to secure distribution in America. Following the Oscar win, that may change soon.
Cinema has always played an important role not only in entertaining audiences but educating, shifting public opinion and potentially impacting policy.
I am heartened to see a film exposing the Israeli occupation receive such recognition on the world stage. It demonstrates there has been a seismic shift in global awareness.
But I also can admit disappointment not to see the staggering production From Ground Zero not reach the Oscar nomination stage after achieving a well-deserved position on the shortlist. The film is a collection of 22 shorts made by 22 Palestinian artists under Israeli bombardment in the besieged Gaza Strip. To complete a production under the indiscriminate bombing of 2024 is an impressive, historic feat of filmmaking.
Another brilliant Palestinian film which was shortlisted for the Oscars’ live-action short category, but unfortunately fell shy of being nominated, was An Orange From Jaffa. The film is a mini masterpiece set at an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank written and directed by the talented filmmaker Mohammed Al Mughanni from Gaza.
I would tentatively speculate that these two productions directed by Palestinians centring Palestinians as their own storytellers might be a step too soon for panels and juries in Hollywood.
But could this accolade open up the floodgates for more films made about Palestine — by Palestinians — to be funded, produced, recognised and celebrated in the future?
One would hope so – but even if not, Palestinians continue to report, resist, and create on the ground, regardless of whether Hollywood recognises them or not.
Whilst Israel is currently still facing ongoing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice and the names of more than 1000 Israeli soldiers have been submitted at the International Criminal Court for war crimes, the pressure is mounting against the state of Israel. This is only the beginning.
Sarah Agha is a writer, actor and broadcaster of Palestinian and Irish heritage. She co-hosted the award winning documentary series ‘The Holy Land And Us’ on BBC Two and she presented The Arab Film Club’s inaugural podcast series on Palestinian Cinema. Her written work has been published in Middle East Eye, Backstage Magazine, GQ ME and the charity anthology “Out of Isolation” by Unicorn Publishing. Sarah read Theology and Middle Eastern Studies at Trinity College Dublin.
Follow Sarah on Instagram: @sarahaghaonline
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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff, or the author’s employer.