Dafter a repeated series of postponements, this evening at 9.25pm Rai 3 will broadcast on first TV No Other Landthe film made by a Israeli-Palestinian collective who won last March the Oscar for Best Documentary. Set in the mountainous community of Masafer Yatta, the doc tells the story the friendship between a young Palestinian and an Israeli journalist. United in the name of peace and for the peaceful coexistence of boththe peoples.
No Other Land: the plot of the documentary film tonight 15 November on Rai 3 and streaming on RaiPlay
Basel Adra is a young activist born and raised in hill villages of Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian rural area located in the far south of the West Bank. Since childhood, lives with the constant constant fear of eviction and its daily landscape is made of tents rebuilt several times, roads blocked and sudden raids.
With a video camera always in hand, Basel takes on the task of documenting each demolitionevery evacuation order, every moment his community risks disappearing from the map. His is not just a testimony: it is a desperate attempt at resistance in a context where the Israeli armed forces conduct a progressive evacuation operation and demolition of villages in the area.
During his filming, Basel meets Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist and activist. Yuval arrives on site to follow the stories of the residents. Finding yourself gradually involved in a reality that forces him to confront his role and with the privileges he enjoys as a free citizen to move, speak and protest without risking arrest. What begins as a professional collaboration turns into a human connectioncomplex and profound, which will last for over five years.
Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham in a scene from “No Other Land”. (Rai)
What the Oscar-winning film for Best Documentary is about and the words of the directors
Produced and directed by an Israeli-Palestinian collective formed by Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham, No Other Land tells the resistance of the Palestinian community of Masafer Yattain the West Bank. The film bears witness to the demolitions and forced evacuations and the human consequences of long occupation. Offering an intimate look at the daily life of those who fight with non-violent means to defend their landforcefully stating a message of resilience, justice and peaceful coexistence.
Essential and rarely powerful documentary, No Other Land transforms a complex political context into a human story of great intensity. The direction observes without filters, letting images and silences speak more than any comment. Using the camera in the field provides a genuine sense of urgency And the relationship between the two protagonists becomes a lens through which to read the asymmetries and tensionsof the place. Without the film losing its visual and narrative rigor. Built piece by piece, with poor means and no production behind, the film is born spontaneously as an act of creative resistance.
Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Last Marchthe collective of directors launched their message of peace from the stage of the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles: «The destruction of Gaza must end, the Israeli hostages must be freed. We call on the world to take serious measures to stop the injustice and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together we can be a strong voice. There is a political solution that does not involve ethnic supremacy, which can recognize everyone’s rightsthe”
The Oscar-winning collective of directors of “No Other Land” (Getty Images)
No Other Land: the dead collaborator and the continuous postponements of Rai
Last August, the Palestinian activist and journalist Awdah Hathaleenwho contributed to the making of the film, he was killed by an Israeli settler in a village in the hills south of Hebron, in the West Bank. A death he unleashed a wave of condemnations for the impunity of this violence given that the Assassin Yinon Levi was interrogated and immediately released.
An increasingly tense climate which, to some extent, it also affected Italy and especially Rai. No Other Land in fact it had been included in the Rai programming schedule for a symbolic date: 7 October. A few days after the announcement though the turnaround has arrived: the cancellation from Rai 3 prime time and its moving to October 21st.
Airing postponed once again and with a justification he did turn up many people’s noses. In fact, the director of the Cinema and TV series section of Rai Adriano De Maio declared toAGI: «He was not in tune with the climate of hope for peace which was then signed. The contents of the film would have risked exploitation».