For Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta on the southern West Bank, the mass expulsion of his community has been a lifelong reality. Faced with the systematic demolition of homes and schools, carried out to make room for an Israeli military training ground, residents confront a painful choice: either move away and relinquish their land or endure and try to rebuild. With the help of Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist, Adra documents the evictions and organizes protests against them, even as the pair’s unequal personal situations hang over their work together.
Filmed vérité-style by a four-person Palestinian–Israeli collective over a period of five years, No Other Land is an eye-opening look at the realities of Israeli occupation. Winner of two documentary awards at this year’s Berlinale, the film alternates between scenes of harrowing immediacy and heartbreaking intimacy. It is at once a testament to the resilience of those who stay and fight, as well as a sobering meditation on the power—and the limits—of filmmaking.
Best Documentary Award, Berlin 2024
Community Partner
Palestine/Norway
2024
In Arabic, Hebrew and English with English subtitles
At SFU Woodwards
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Screenwriter
Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Cinematography
Rachel Szor
Editor
Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Original Music
Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Basel, a Palestinian filmmaker born in 1996, has documented reality in his home community of Masafer Yatta since the age of fourteen and worked for various human rights organizations and as a journalist. Yuval, an Israeli filmmaker born in 1995, is a journalist who has spent years writing about the Israeli occupation, mostly in Hebrew. Rachel, an Israeli filmmaker born in 1994, is a video journalist and a cinematographer. Hamdan, a Palestinian filmmaker born in 1989, is a photographer, farmer, and human rights researcher.
Basel Adra
Hamdan Ballal
Yuval Abraham
Rachel Szor
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
Shadow of a Doubt
In our latest film studies series, FRAMEWORK, Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock across four monochrome masterworks. This week: smalltown US thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943), one of the director's personal favourites.
The Best Years of Our Lives
One of the finest films to come out of WWII, The Best Years of Our Lives sympathetically conveys the difficulties returning veterans faced in readjusting to life at home. It won 7 of the top Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director and Actor.
Ray Gunn (Special Advance Screening with Brad Bird)
In an alternate future as seen from 1939, a private eye (Sam Rockwell) is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and a multimedia star (Scarlett Johansson). Followed by a moderated discussion with director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille).