Basel Adra (left), Palestinian film director, speaks during the 422nd meeting of the Committee on Exercise of Inalienable Rights of Palestinian People. At right is Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.
On 3 April, the UN General Assembly Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held an exclusive screening of the 2025 Academy Award winner for best documentary “No Other Land” at UN Headquarters in New York. The film, co-produced by Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, tells the story of the destruction of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank and documents the efforts to resist.
The documentary was created by the Palestinian director Basel Adra, Israeli journalist and director Yuval Abraham, Palestinian filmmaker and farmer Hamdan Ballal and Israeli cinematographer and editor Rachel Szor. Captivating critics, juries, and audiences across continents, the film has garnered dozens of awards and widespread acclaim. It was showcased at many film festivals, ultimately earning the Oscar for best documentary just a few weeks ago.
Earlier the same day, during the Committee’s 422nd meeting, film’s co-director Basel Adra, said he grew up seeing bulldozers entering Palestinian communities and destroying homes. But this was so routine that journalists were not interested in covering it. So, as a teenager, he started carrying a camera and filming because he wanted the world to see what it was like to live under brutal occupation.
Five years ago, he started working on the documentary with friends, he said, adding that the movie succeeded beyond expectations. “But even after winning the Oscar, we went back to the same reality,” he observed. He detailed many harrowing stories of violence, destruction and arbitrary detention. Three weeks after the Oscars, settlers attacked a mosque in the village of one of his co-directors, Hamdan Ballal. About 20 settlers started vandalizing the village. Hamdan tried to protect his family by locking the door of his house and standing outside, but two soldiers started beating him, and then abducted him and two other Palestinians to a military base. He spent 20 hours in the base, handcuffed and blindfolded while soldiers mistreated him — when he was brought to interrogation, he was accused of attacking the settler and only after he paid a fine was he able to leave and get medical treatment.
