Skip to main content
No Other Land film image; man lying on a rocky terrain

No Other Land

Showcase

This event has passed

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

Directors
Credits
Country of Origin

Palestine/Norway

Year

2024

Language

In Arabic, Hebrew and English with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+

At SFU Woodwards

19+

At Fifth Avenue

96 min
Award Winners Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice
Yabayay Media, Antipode Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

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 headshot; No Other Land director

Basel Adra

Hamdan Ballal headshot; No Other Land director

Hamdan Ballal

Yuval Abraham headshot; No Other Land director

Yuval Abraham

Rachel Szor headshot; No Other Land director

Rachel Szor

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Gloria

Dir. John Cassavetes
121 min

Gena Rowlands was nominated for Best Actress for her portrait of gangster's moll Gloria Swenson: a tough, chain-smoking broad who finds herself running from her former friends in the mob to protect her next door neighbour's orphaned six-year-old kid.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Encampments

Dir. Michael T. Workman & Kei Pritsker
82 min

When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Marcella

Dir. Peter Miller
98 min

Marcella Hazan taught North Americans that there was more to Italian food than pizza and meatballs. She wrote what remains the definitive book on the subject (Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking). This is her story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Caught by the Tides

Dir. Jia Zhangke
111 min

Over two decades, across China’s rapidly changing landscape, two lovers meet and part and meet again. In this magisterial film, Jia Zhangke refracts the 21st century through a reflexive, retrospective look at his era-defining filmography.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sabbath Queen

Dir. Sandi Dubowski
105 min

The dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis, including the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Amichai Lau-Lavie is what you might call the black sheep of the family. His sexuality led him down a different path, but its destination is surprising...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Kryptic

Dir. Kourtney Roy
96 min

Oozing psycho-sexual anxiety, Kourtney Roy's fascinating feminist horror movie feints toward creature-feature quirk, but morphs into something much stranger. Chloe Pirrie plays a double role, or maybe Everywoman, adrift in a world of men and monsters.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema