No Other Land

Young Palestinian activist Basel Adra lives in Masafer Yatta, a centuries-old network of Bedouin villages in the West Bank. His community is the target of an aggressive Israeli eviction campaign, supposedly to make way for a military base. By day, bulldozers flatten villages; by night, desperate residents rebuild their homes.

Together with Jewish-Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and two co-directors, Adra starts a film collective. From the summer of 2019, they point their cameras at the soldiers. The often jerky images make it clear how precarious the situation is. Everyday scenes show how a friendship blossoms between the two activists. Using old home videos and a voice-over, Adra explains that the oppression has been plaguing his community for much longer.

Although the documentary was already finished in October 2023, the directors end with disturbing images of Masafer Yatta in wartime. It makes this urgent film – awarded the Berlinale for Best Documentary and winner of many audience awards – both a history lesson and a tragic prologue.