What Oscar-winning No Other Land is about and where you can watch it

No Other Land, which chronicles settler violence and the Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes successful the occupied West Bank, won the Oscar for champion documentary connected Sunday night.

The movie has won dozens of prizes since its merchandise past year, including astatine the Berlin Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Here is much astir the film, co-directed by Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, and wherefore the triumph is significant:

What is the movie about?

The movie was produced from 2019 to 2023 and comprises mostly idiosyncratic camcorder footage filmed by Palestinian activistic Basel Adra, 28, who documents the Israeli military’s demolition of his hometown, Masafer Yatta successful a small, rugged portion successful the confederate occupied West Bank.

The movie highlights Israeli demolitions of homes successful the village, which the Israeli subject wants to crook into a subject grooming zone. Its footage shows the Israeli subject razing a schoolhouse and filling h2o wells with cement, truthful residents cannot rebuild.

Adra made the movie with Israeli writer Yuval Abraham, who co-directed it on with Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor.

During his Oscar acceptance code connected Sunday nighttime successful Los Angeles, Adra said his movie “reflects the harsh world we person been enduring for decades and inactive defy arsenic we telephone connected the satellite to instrumentality superior actions to halt the injustice and to halt the taste cleansing of Palestinian people”.

“About 2 months ago, I became a father, and my anticipation to my girl is that she volition not person to unrecorded the aforesaid beingness I’m surviving now.”

Abraham said successful his speech: “When I look astatine Basel, I spot my brother. But we are unequal. We unrecorded successful a authorities wherever I americium escaped nether civilian instrumentality and Basel is nether subject laws that destruct lives, that helium cannot control,” helium said.

The movie was released months aft deadly Hamas-led attacks successful confederate Israel connected October 7, 2023, which triggered Israel’s warfare connected Gaza.

At slightest 1,100 radical were killed successful the attacks successful Israel, and astir 240 radical were taken captive. By the clip a ceasefire took effect successful Gaza connected January 19, much than 48,000 Palestinians had been killed successful the war. An estimated 13,000 further radical are buried nether the rubble and are presumed dead. Rights groups person accused Israel of committing genocide.

#Oscars2025 🇵🇸 @basel_adra: “We telephone connected the satellite to instrumentality superior actions to halt the injustice and to halt the taste cleansing of the Palestinian people.” #NoOtherLand pic.twitter.com/2yVfryoAWC

— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) March 3, 2025

Where to ticker No Other Land

Studios and distributors successful the United States person refused to prime up the film. Even online streaming platforms successful the US person not shown involvement contempt No Other Land being the highest grossing Oscar-nominated documentary.

Last year, the online streaming elephantine Netflix removed 24 Palestinian films from its archive, drafting accusations that Hollywood and the US media are suppresing Palestinian voices.

Abraham told The New York Times successful an interrogation published connected February 19: “In the US, truthful galore radical are penning us, ‘How tin we ticker it?’ So we decided to bash the theatrical merchandise independently, and it’s present going to amusement successful astir 100 theatres successful the US.”

He added that helium hopes a distributor would prime up his documentary.

Streaming links are fewer and acold between. While determination are links to rent oregon bargain the documentary connected Amazon UK, Microsoft, Sky Store and AppleTV, it is unclear which regions the documentary is disposable in.

Is this the archetypal clip Palestinians person won an Oscar?

Yes, this is the archetypal clip a Palestinian filmmaker has won an Oscar.

In 2006, the movie Paradise Now, made by Palestinian manager Hany Abu-Assad, was nominated for an Oscar for the champion overseas connection movie with the state of root being “the Palestinian territories”. In 2014, Abu-Assad’s movie Omar was besides nominated successful the aforesaid category. This marked the archetypal clip the state of root successful the information was stated arsenic Palestine. 

Since then, different Palestinian films person been nominated for the awards but person not won.

This year, 2 different Palestinian films too No Other Land were shortlisted but not nominated. From Ground Zero, a postulation of 22 films made successful Gaza, was shortlisted for the champion planetary movie award. An Orange from Jaffa highlights the perils faced by Palestinians owed to Israeli checkpoints. It was shortlisted for the unrecorded enactment abbreviated movie category.

Four Israelis person won Oscars truthful far.

In 2007, a West Side Story parody called West Bank Story won successful the unrecorded enactment abbreviated movie category. It was created by Jewish American filmmaker Ari Sandel, whose begetter is Israeli and parent is American.

Why is the triumph significant?

The triumph for No Other Land comes against the backdrop of intensifying Israeli attacks connected the occupied West Bank since the Gaza ceasefire took effect. The West Bank operations person killed dozens of Palestinians and displaced much than 40,000 people.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said successful precocious January that the Israeli subject was applying lessons learned during the Gaza warfare to their West Bank operations.

The West Bank is location to astir 3 cardinal Palestinians and much than 500,000 Israeli settlers.

The 1993 Oslo Accord called for a frost connected settlements, which are amerciable nether planetary law, but they person grown rapidly since, peculiarly nether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The enlargement of settlements has made the realisation of a two-state solution — a aboriginal sovereign Palestinian authorities surviving broadside by broadside with Israel — harder and harder.

More settlements person been announced since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration connected January 20.