Tipsheet

About That Film That Won Best Documentary at the Oscars

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  March 05, 2025 5:15 PM

Earlier this week, the 97th Academy Awards took place. In the category of Best Documentary, those involved with a film known as "No Other Land" took home the Oscar. Although the documentary began before the October 7, 2023, conflict between Israel and Hamas, the film about the Gaza region still allowed the filmmakers to go on a rant spewing anti-Israel propaganda when accepting their awards. Further, these same filmmakers were seen proudly displaying keffiyehs on the red carpet, which has become a terrorist symbol.

One of the filmmakers, Basel Adra, issued such a call for "the world to stop the injustice and end the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people," which is a narrative used to attack the Jewish State of Israel; those in attendance unfortunately but predictably applauded. Many other Hollywood stars in attendance were also seen wearing anti-Israel pins for the award show.

Although another filmmaker, Yuval Abraham, did mention the attack on Israel that took place on October 7, this came after he spoke about "the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end." He also spoke about "ethnic supremacy" and then condemned "the foreign policy in this country," standing on a stage in the United States, a line which received more applause. 

There was another volunteer filmmaker, Hayim Katsman, involved who did not get to attend the awards ceremony or appear on the stage, as he was an Israeli who was murdered on October 7. 

This is how Hamas and Palestinian "civilians" involved on that day rewarded such peacekeepers as Katsman and Oded Lifshitz, whose body returned to Israel last week after he was taken hostage on October 7 and murdered by Hamas. He was 83-years-old when killed. 

The film and its accolades were celebrated by the Associated Press, which has put out pro-Hamas propaganda before, including to do with citing the numbers of civilians in Gaza that ministries associated with Hamas, as well as the Bibas family. Last month, the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her young children, Kfir, who was only 10-months-old when murdered, and Ariel, who was only 4-years-old, were returned to Israel, but not before Hamas initially sent back the unidentified body of a random Palestinian woman rather than Shiri. The AP also had reporters embedded with Hamas for the October 7 attacks. 

In strong contrast to such fawning is a piece from Kassy Akiva at The Daily Wire, "The Truth About The Oscar-Winning Anti-Israel Documentary 'No Other Land.'"

As her piece mentioned:

But according to the Israeli NGO Regavim, the documentary relies on a “concoction of misrepresentations and outright fabrications.”

“This is a propaganda film that serves the false Palestinian narrative, and seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the international arena in order to cause boycotts and sanctions of IDF fighters,” Meir Deutsch, director-general of Regavim, said in a statement.

Throughout the film, Adra documents his struggle to stop the Israeli Defense Forces from demolishing what are described as “ancient villages” in an area called Masafer Yatta, which is east of the Palestinian Authority town of Yatta. In reality, Regavim points out, all of the so-called villages of Masafer Yatta did not exist when Israel declared the area an IDF training zone for live-fire exercises in the early 1980s.

...

“No Other Land” claims it ended filming in 2023 but pays a brief tribute to the October 7 attack, with the voice of an Arabic-speaking newscaster and the translation, “Netanyahu promised revenge that will be more painful for the attack Hamas carried out killing Israelis in unprecedented numbers. Israel killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza while hundreds of Israelis are held hostage.”

“The short ‘tribute’ to October 7 in the Pallywood Propaganda Film ‘No Other Land’ show precisely how much they actually care about human life or coexistence,” [Naomi Kahn, the director of the international division of Regavim] Kahn said.

Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar called the film’s Oscar award a “sad moment for the world of cinema.”

“Instead of presenting the complexity of Israeli reality, the filmmakers chose to amplify narratives that distort Israel’s image vis-à-vis international audiences,” Zohar said. “Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art — it is sabotage against the State of Israel, especially in the wake of the October 7th massacre and the ongoing war.”

"No Other Land" also went up against other films in that category such as "Black Box Diaries," which is about sexual assault; "Porcelain War," which is about Russia's invasion of Ukraine; "Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat," which is about the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba; and "Sugarcane," which is about an investigation into the missing children at an Indian reservation school.