Mar 5, 2025
From left to right: Palestinian journalist Basel Adra addresses the crowd after being awarded an Oscar for his documentary "No Other Land" alongside co-producer and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham at the 97th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California on March 2, 2025. [Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images]
The documentary "No Other Land" won the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 97th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, telling the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from Israeli military demolitions in southern areas of the West Bank.
The film follows Palestinian journalist Basel Adra, who documents the Israeli military destroying his hometown of Masafer Yatta, wanting to use the area as a training zone, according to the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.
The film is a “call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people,” Adra said while on stage as part of his acceptance speech.
Helping him with producing the film was Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. As part of his speech alongside Adra, Abraham highlighted the Palestinian-Israeli partnership which, in his eyes, made the film’s success possible.
“We made this film as Palestinians and Israelis because, together, our voices are stronger,” Abraham said in his acceptance speech, condemning the destruction of Gaza.
Using Adra’s personal footage compiled between 2019 to 2023, the documentary reveals the brutality of the Israeli occupation, showing the destruction of Palestinian homes to Israeli soldiers shooting peaceful protesters in Masafer Yatta.
Adra, who became a father two months ago, yearns for a better future for his daughter, void of not only the experiences shown in the film, but also of what he personally deals with as a West Bank resident.
“My hope for my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now,” he said.
The film also exposes the inequality in Israeli policy. While Abraham, as an Israeli, is free to travel, Adra remains trapped in the West Bank under military law.
“When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal,” Abraham said.