No Other Land - Expat Cinema Rotterdam

Activist Basel Adra and journalist Yuval Abraham document the destruction of Masafer Yatta, where Israel aims to build a military base. Their poignant footage makes the oppression palpable, ending in war scenes, making this award-winning film both an urgent history lesson and a tragic prologue.

Young Palestinian activist Basel Adra lives in Masafer Yatta, an ancient network of Bedouin villages in the West Bank. His community is the target of an aggressive Israeli expulsion campaign, allegedly to make way for a military base. During the day, bulldozers flatten villages, and at night, desperate residents rebuild their homes.

Together with Jewish-Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and two co-directors, Adra starts a film collective. Beginning in the summer of 2019, they turn their cameras on the soldiers. The often shaky footage vividly illustrates the precariousness of the situation. Everyday scenes reveal the growing friendship between the two activists. Through old home videos and a voiceover, Adra explains that the oppression has been tormenting his community for much longer.

Although the documentary was completed in October 2023, the filmmakers conclude with revealing footage of Masafer Yatta during wartime. This makes the urgent film – awarded Best Documentary at the Berlinale and winner of many audience awards – both a history lesson and a tragic prologue.