A struggle on screen
‘No Other Land’ brings West Bank plight to The Bijou Theatre in Lincoln City
By Rick Mark
For the TODAY
“No Other Land,” a highly acclaimed documentary about Israel’s treatment of Palestinian families in the West Bank, will be shown at The Bijou Theatre in Lincoln City this Saturday, March 22.
The 90-minute film, which chronicles the destruction of Palestinian homes by the Israeli military, was made over four years, from 2019 to 2023, in an unusual collaboration among Palestinians and Israelis. Two of the filmmakers, Palestinian Basel Adra and Israeli Yuval Abraham, spoke at this month’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, when “No Other Land” received an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
“About two months ago, I became a father,” Adra said, “and my hope to my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I am living now, always fearing violence, home demolitions, forced displacement that my community, Masafer Yatta, is facing every day.”
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger,” Abraham said. “When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy lives, that he cannot control. There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.
“The movie had to overcome some challenges to get to Lincoln City because no traditional American film distributor wanted to touch it. But after receiving awards at film festivals in Berlin, Copenhagen, London, New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere, the film finally reached the United States a few weeks before it received the Oscar.
Britt Nelson and I are sponsoring the screening at the Bijou so area residents can see the film without having to travel to the Valley. While we think it is important for everyone to understand the reality of life on the West Bank, we also have a personal connection to “No Other Land.”
The four directors of “No Other Land” were, from left, Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor. Photo by Yehel Gazit.
My brother Bob has lived in Israel for more than 40 years. He and his wife, Michal, raised their family in a village dedicated to the idea that Jews and Arabs can live together in peace. Today, the village known as Neve Shalom/Wahat-al-Salam has about 90 families, half of them Jewish and half Arab. Bob and Michal’s three daughters were brought up speaking both Hebrew and Arabic. Several years ago, Bob’s youngest daughter, Maya, now 29, became friends with Abraham. Last week, Maya and I exchanged some messages on WhatsApp. She said she and Abraham had studied Arabic together.
“Learning Arabic was the start of his politicization,” she said, “because he started more deeply understanding what is happening in this country and started forming connections with Palestinians.
Maya would go on to work with Palestinian families in Masafer Yatta, which is where she got to know Adra, actually living with his family for a time.
Through his work as a journalist, Abraham became close friends with Adra, which led to this collaboration and the documentary, made also with Palestinian Hamdan Ballal and Israeli Rachel Szor.
About a year ago, “No Other Land” was shown for the first time in Masafer Yatta. Maya was at the screening.
“I think it was really hard for them to see these scenes on screen,” she said, “but also powerful and exciting to know that the movie is telling their stories.”
Maya told me about the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, an organization that has partnered with Palestinian communities “to support the many emergency needs” created by Israel’s harsh policies. As written on the organization’s website: “When homes, cars, water tanks … are destroyed, communities must pay to rebuild. Legal fees to fight for their land are expensive and unending. Medical expenses after settler-state attacks and violence pile up. … Nearly the entire livelihood of these communities has been suffocated and shut down.”
Proceeds from ticket sales at the Lincoln City screening will be sent to the solidarity fund-raiser for Masafer Yatta.
“No Other Land” will screen at 11 am this Saturday, March 22, at The Bijou Theatre, located at 1624 NE Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City. Tickets are $10.