If there was one film in particular that became the target of unjust attacks after this year’s highly controversial Berlinale awards ceremony this year – exposing the most aberrant Islamophobic stereotypes (see Minister Claudia Roth’s mind-boggling statement) and leading to a stream of death threats against its directors – that film was No Other Land (dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor), presented in the Panorama section and winner of the documentary film jury’s grand prize. This string of incidents generated an uproar of such proportions and garnered so much public support for Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham that the film became known to an audience perhaps even larger than anyone might have expected. This film about Israel’s illegal and ever-expanding occupation of the West Bank has all the potential, especially in the context of the war crimes being committed in Gaza, to emerge as one of the most important documentaries of the year.

Reading the synopsis published on the Berlinale’s website, one might be tempted to think that this film is somewhat different from what it actually is: a sort of buddy movie about two young men (“activists”) on opposite sides of a national-political divide and an “act of creative resistance”. Although the film documents the relationship that evolves between Yuval and Basel, at its core, their bond is influenced by conscious solidarity and a desire to put privilege at the service of a subversive cause, in the case of Abraham. Moreover, their presentation as mere activists eludes the fact that they are both journalists by profession (one of the implicit subjects of this film is the media ecosystem), associated with the independent journalistic outlet +972. Much of the film is constructed from material that Basel (who is also a law graduate) shot as a journalist and published online. Of course, there are certain tensions at play: however much he deconstructs his own privilege, Yuval has the luxury of freedom of movement and of being concerned with rather “abstract” needs (human rights and democracy in general, rejecting abuses committed in his name), whereas for Basel, the issue is literally one of survival.

The fact that four people are credited with directing this film – the two protagonists are joined by Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, the directors of photography – is characteristic of the kind of horizontal strategy that is typical of collectives that ground their practice and strategy in grassroots approaches: this film is just one piece in a larger puzzle of resistance. The collective approach not only circumvents the traditional idea of cinema auteurship (a fact all the more fitting in the context of a documentary about human rights violations) but also serves to underline the unity and collective solidarity behind a clear political message: namely that the eradication of the mountainside village of Masafer Yatta (and other Palestinian villages that rely on subsistence farming) is a systematic and deliberate act of violent expropriation, accompanied by extrajudicial killings of local protesters, as well as the deliberate impoverishment of its inhabitants. All these shots of houses being ripped from the ground by bulldozers or tanks, of obtuse bureaucrats handing out demolition orders without blinking an eye, and of groups of soldiers filling the sky with tear gas and smoke grenades – all these are more than just audiovisual documents of occupation and eradication, and of the physical, psychological and emotional violence that ensues; they are visual testaments to one of the most poignant lines in the film: “Arabs build for you and you destroy for them.”

Much of No Other Land was filmed between 2019 and 2023, with filming ending shortly before October 7 – something that a short montage at the end of the film points out, indicating that settler attacks on the West Bank escalated substantially in the aftermath. The documentary revolves around the figure of Basel and his efforts to save his community from being erased – whether through direct protest action or as a journalist and videographer – as well as the repression he faces. We often see Israeli soldiers barging into his home to arrest him, and him ending up sleeping outdoors to hide from them. But Basel, like Yuval, is more of a link to the community’s story: there is also a secondary narrative thread, which follows the life of a grandmother who cares for her granddaughter after their home is demolished, forcing them to live in a cave (!!!), while her son is left paralyzed after being shot by an Israeli soldier. These images are extremely difficult to watch – but far from reducing these people to the status of mere victims, the filmmakers take care to illustrate their humanity, without ever being intrusive or schematic in their approach.

Although its discourse is largely one sustained by direct footage, No Other Land has several notable formal flourishes, which bring into question not just the prolonged struggle of the community of Masafer Yatta against illegal evictions and settlements, but also an idea – however vaguely sketched – of the digital images throughout the 21st century. Basel is both the main character and the narrator of the film: we hear him in a voice-over whenever the images onscreen switch back to the early 2000s, when we see both him as a child and the first abusive demolitions, along with the historical resistance of the Palestinian community – whereas, back in the present, when we follow his work as a journalist and organizer, the screen often turns towards digital media (such as WhatsApp messages, tweets, etc.).

“When I was a child, people around me started to film,” he says, highlighting a life bookended by images of oppression, but also a life in images of a community that was shaped by documents of its repression. And when, a little later on, he completes the statement with the heartbreaking “When I started filming, we began to end”, the disarming despair of his statement finds a counterpoint in the multi-generational capacity of the camera to act as a weapon against oppression and ignorance: and it is imperative not to forget this, especially in an age of counterfeit images and their dispiriting mirages – we must ceaselessly look at the images that come from the margins towards the center.

No Other Land will be screened at the 17th edition of One World Romania, on the 13th of April.

Flavia Dima

Film critic & journalist. Collaborates with local and international outlets, programs a short film festival - BIEFF, does occasional moderating gigs and is working on a PhD thesis about home movies. At Films in Frame, she writes the monthly editorial - The State of Cinema and is the magazine's main festival reporter.