A Palestinian-Israeli collective made one of 2024's most lauded docs. Will it be released in the US?

NEW YORK (AP) — Basel Adra, a Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli, spent five years making a movie that depicts daily life in Adra’s village under Israeli occupation. The resulting film, “No Other Land,” has been hailed as one of the year's most powerful documentaries, winning prizes at international film festivals.

It’s also stoked controversy, prompted death threats for its makers and — despite the acclaim — remains without an American distributor.

Opening this week in France and next week in the United Kingdom, the feature-length documentary has already sold in many international territories. Its status as an Academy Awards contender remains intact — after hosting it during the New York Film Festival, the Lincoln Center will screen the film for a one-week, Oscar-qualifying run beginning Friday. But the filmmakers believe the monthslong inability to find a U.S. distributor boils down to political reasons, with Election Day in the presidential contest between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump looming.

“Maybe they’re afraid to be defunded if Trump wins,” says Abraham, speaking in an interview from Paris alongside Adra. “But Basel risked his life for years since he was a young boy to film this material. That requires a lot of courage. Can we not have one distributor with the courage, OK, to take a certain risk, but to distribute such an acclaimed and such an important documentary?”

“No Other Land” began long before the current chapter of the war in Gaza. It’s told largely from the perspective of Adra, who was born in Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the occupied West Bank.

The area, a rugged mountainous region south of Hebron, has for decades been a site of protest against the Israeli government, which ordered Palestinians off the land to make room for a military training ground.

In 1980, the Israeli military declared Masafer Yatta a closed “firing zone." Israeli authorities said the residents — Arab Bedouin who practice a traditional form of agriculture and animal herding and have lived on the land since before 1967 — only used the area part of the year and had no permanent structures there at the time.

Adra was born into this; his father was an activist on behalf of the community and Adra was 5 when his mother first took him to a demonstration.

Following a 2022 court decision, the army set up checkpoints and regularly demolished community structures — including a school. A camera, Adra says, “became the only tool beside our steadfastness.” He captured the regular demolitions of homes, the violent encounters with Israeli settlers and the ongoing effect the struggle has had on the villagers.

“I started filming when we started to end,” he says in the film, which takes place between 2019 and 2023.

It’s a long-term, on-the-ground portrait of the realities of life under Israeli military law. Families are uprooted. Children grow up in poverty. People die. But its makers never envisioned how much worse things could get.

Made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective (the other two directors are Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor), “No Other Land” wrapped shooting last October, just as the Hamas attack occurred and Israel’s war in Gaza began.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed over 1,200 people across southern Israel, taking some 250 people hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive on the Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, over half of whom are women and children, say Palestinian health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. In the West Bank, frequent raids into Palestinian cities and towns that Israel says are aimed at Palestinian militants, as well as mounting violence from Jewish settlers, have driven up the death toll since Oct. 7 to more than 760 killed.

“I look at the news just over the past few days. Hundreds of people in Gaza being killed, Israeli hostages dying, massacres happening every day, nonstop,” says Abraham, a Jewish journalist from southern Israel. “And we’re here showing a film in air-conditioned cinemas. There’s a big dissonance in participating in festivals when nothing is festive and everything is becoming worse.”

The war in Gaza — and now the war in Lebanon and the specter of one with Iran — has inevitably altered the landscape for “No Other Land,” a film that marries documentary filmmaking and activism to put a human face to Palestinian suffering. It's won awards in Berlin, Switzerland, Vancouver and South Korea. But for Adra, little of that matters.

“We made this movie to not lose Masafer Yatta, to not lose our homes,” says Adra. “It’s very successful for the movie, but when I go back to the reality, it’s changing for the worse. So there’s this conflict on my mind. The movie is succeeding and has publicity, people want to watch it, but it’s not helping what’s happening on the ground. It doesn’t change anything.”

“No Other Land” was enmeshed in controversy soon after its February debut at the Berlin Film Festival. While accepting the documentary award, Adra spoke about the difficulty of doing so “when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza.” Abraham called for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In Germany, where anti-Israel statements have acute sensitivity, numerous politicians criticized the filmmakers for making no mention of Israeli victims or Hamas. Claudia Roth, Germany’s culture minister, said the speeches were “shockingly one-sided.” Kai Wegner, mayor of Berlin, called them “intolerable relativization.” Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, called it “blatant antisemitic discourse.”

Abraham, who says he received death threats, was “enraged” by the response. As a descendent of Holocaust victims, he believes labeling criticism of Israeli policies as antisemitic empties the phrase of meaning.

“We called for equality between Palestinians and Israelis. We called for an end to the occupation. We spoke about what we see as the political roots of the violence that exists in our land. To me, this the most important message that there can be,” says Abraham. “It feels like we’re living in the ‘1984’ novel where you make these kinds of statements and that’s somehow labeled as controversial.”

Adra and Abraham's relationship, one they hope can stand for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, is a central component of “No Other Land.”

Together, they rush to document the arrival of tanks or military bulldozers; they lament the little attention their social media posts or articles find online; they ponder their futures.

But there is also tension in their differences. One lives under civilian law, the other under military law. Whether Adra will be able to pass through checkpoints to travel abroad is always in question. In the film, their Palestinian co-director, Ballal, is seen skeptically questioning Abraham’s place in the struggle.

“It could be your brother or friend who destroyed my home,” Ballal tells him.

“As an Israeli, I believe that the status quo is harmful for Israelis for the simple fact that security in the land is mutual,” Abraham tells The Associated Press. “People are dependent on one another. We cannot expect to have security if Palestinians don’t have freedom.”

Even before the war in Gaza, Adra and Abraham struggled to gain international attention for Masafer Yatta.

Now, their cause is dwarfed by the destruction in Gaza, and it’s difficult for them to feel any hope. Days after Oct. 7, Adra’s cousin was shot and killed point blank by a settler, an incident captured in the film. “For me,” says Adra, “there’s nothing clear where this is going.”

In meetings with distributors, the filmmakers say, there's been a lot of interest. “They say they love the film, but then they're hesitant,” says Abraham.

Whether U.S. film distributors have grown too cautious politically was also a prominent question for the Trump drama “The Apprentice,” which only found a home with Briarcliff Entertainment shortly before it was released last month. “Union,” a well-received documentary about labor organization at Amazon, recently resorted to self-distributing its release.

“Once upon a time, American film distributors and exhibitors embraced controversy — especially when it came to acclaimed movies whose controversy was inextricably intertwined with their humanity,” the New York magazine critic Bilge Ebiri wrote of “No Other Land.” “Are these companies holding back out of budgetary reasons, out of cowardice, out of political disagreement?”

“It’s not allowing the conversation even to begin by silencing our voices, the voices of a Palestinian who is resisting the occupation and the voice of an Israeli who is also against occupation and believes in a future of equality and justice for everyone,” Abraham says. “Why are you blocking these kinds of voices from entering the space of mainstream cinema in the U.S.?” (The film also lacks an Israeli distributor.)

However it gets seen, the filmmakers hope “No Other Land” remains a vital document to the current crisis.

“We wanted to send the message that the status quo is very harmful and it should change,” says Adra. “A political solution is needed. That was before Oct. 7. We don’t want to get to a day such as Oct. 7. We want to warn global leaders to take actions and stop being complicit with the occupation.”

“What’s happening is very, very sad and tragic,” he adds. “I never imagined in my lifetime that something like this can happen, and that the world would let it go on.”

FILE - Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar, File)

Police disperse people protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, near the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

This image released by Antipode Films shows a scene from "No Other Land". (Antipode Films via AP)

FILE - Palestinian Basel Adra, right, and Israeli Yuval Abraham receive the documentary award for "No Other Land" at the International Film Festival, Berlinale, in Berlin, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

The presidential campaign comes down to a final push across a handful of states on the eve of Election Day.

Kamala Harris will spend all of Monday in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes offer the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome. Donald Trump plans four rallies in three states, beginning in Raleigh, North Carolina and stopping twice in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here's the latest:

Trump has taken the stage to roaring applause in Raleigh, North Carolina — and the arena is now much fuller than it was an hour ago, with only a smattering of empty seats.

He sounds a little hoarse after a busy campaign schedule that will include another three stops later Monday.

Trump says of the presidential race: “It’s ours to lose.”

The joint statement Monday by the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors said election officials have been working for four years to prepare for the Nov. 5 presidential election and have devoted “extensive time, energy and resources to safeguard America’s elections.”

They cautioned that “operational issues” could happen, such as polling places opening late or long lines at voting locations, but election officials have contingency plans to address these.

They also urged the public to be patient, saying “accurately counting millions of ballots takes time” and noting recounts may be needed for close races.

More than a dozen counties in the presidential battleground of Pennsylvania have received bulk challenges from conservative activists to voters’ mail-in ballot applications that voting rights lawyers and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration say are illegal.

The deadline to challenge a voter based on their residency in Pennsylvania was Friday, but voting rights lawyers say such challenges must be individualized and be supported by credible evidence.

The challenges — to more than 4,000 voters total — are based on “theories that courts have repeatedly rejected and appear to be two separate, coordinated efforts to undermine confidence in the Nov. 5 election,” Shapiro’s Department of State said in a statement.

Many of those voters also received form letters from the activists urging them to cancel their registration. Some challenges target voters living overseas, while others target voters who appeared in the U.S. Postal Service’s change-of-address database.

RALEIGH, N.C. — From what Noah Frederick, 23, has seen in the lead-up to Election Day, he thinks Trump is going to win the presidency. He attends Duke University as an electrical engineering student but cast his mail-in ballot for his home state of Pennsylvania about two weeks ago.

Something Frederick said surprised him is that several friends from his hometown of Pottsville who used to be more “Democrat-friendly” are now pro-Trump. His decision to cast his ballot for Trump came a few months ago when former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris.

“Their supporting (of) Kamala kind of tells kind of tells you all you need to know about her foreign policy and Trump’s,” he said.

Frederick said there was “no way” he would have voted for Harris because of foreign policy issues and the Biden administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A smattering of Trump’s supporters are once again wearing yellow and orange safety vests to his rally — copying the uniform Trump donned last week when he climbed aboard a garbage truck to draw attention to President Joe Biden’s comments calling his supporters “garbage.”

Among them was Trey Gainey, 21, a barber from nearby Clinton.

“Joe Biden called us supporters ‘garbage’ so I decided to show up like I saw Trump do,” he said as he waited for the former president to take the stage in Raleigh.

Gainey, who said he cast his ballot for Trump on the first day of early voting, said he’s confident Trump will emerge the winner, but is worried about a nebulous force interfering.

“I feel like Trump already beat Kamala. I feel like now we have to beat the people we can’t see,” he said.

RALEIGH, N.C. — There are plenty of empty seats at the Raleigh, North Carolina, arena where Trump is kicking off a busy last day of campaigning, with four rallies planned across three battleground states.

Trump was scheduled to take the stage at 10 a.m. at the J.S. Dorton Arena, a 5,000-seat venue with additional seating on the floor.

Trump has held events in North Carolina each of the past three days, underscoring the importance of a state he carried in both 2016 and 2020.

More people are still filing in so the arena could fill up more by the time Trump takes the stage.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Ebony Coots is excited for Trump to win but says she’s tired of seeing all the negative political ads. Coots also feels a bit nervous — not about Trump’s chances of winning but rather what Democrats “might try to do,” she said.

In 2016, Coots cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton because of the “girl power” sentiment, which she now says was a mistake.

Wearing a shirt memorializing Corey Comperatore — the volunteer firefighter who was shot and killed at Trump’s July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania — the 48-year-old delivery driver said animosity toward police during the widespread protests against the killing of George Floyd pushed her to vote for Trump in 2020 and support him since.

Monday’s rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, was her ninth since 2022, Coots said.

If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election, Coots summed up what she’ll do in one sentence.

“You know, actually, I might try to go to another planet,” she said.

RALEIGH, N.C. — There are plenty of empty seats at the Raleigh, North Carolina, arena where Trump is kicking off a busy last day of campaigning, with four rallies planned across three battleground states.

Trump was scheduled to take the stage at 10 a.m. at the J.S. Dorton Arena, a 5,000-seat venue with additional seating on the floor.

Trump has held events in North Carolina each of the past three days, underscoring the importance of a state he carried in both 2016 and 2020.

More people are still filing in so the arena could fill up more by the time Trump takes the stage.

It’s the election that no one could have foreseen.

Not so long ago, Donald Trump was marinating in anger at Mar-a-Lago after being impeached twice and voted out of the White House. Even some of his closest allies were looking forward to a future without the charismatic yet erratic billionaire leading the Republican Party, especially after his failed attempt to overturn an election ended in violence and shame. When Trump announced his comeback bid two years ago, the New York Post buried the article on page 26.

At the same time, Kamala Harris was languishing as a low-profile sidekick to President Joe Biden. Once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, she struggled with both her profile and her portfolio, disappointing her supporters and delighting her critics. No one was talking about Harris running for the top job — they were wondering if Biden should replace her as his running mate when he sought a second term.

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The vice president is holding a rally in Allentown with rapper Fat Joe before visiting a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

She’ll also hold an evening Pittsburgh rally featuring performances by DJ D-Nice, Katy Perry and Andra Day, before rallying at Philadelphia’s Museum of the Arts’ “Rocky Steps,” featuring a statue of the fictional boxer.

The final event includes remarks from DJ Cassidy, Fat Joe, Freeway and Just Blaze, as well as Lady Gaga, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ricky Martin, The Roots, Jazmine Sullivan and Adam Blackstone, and Oprah Winfrey.

Former President Donald Trump is closing out what he says will be his last campaign day for the White House with a jam-packed schedule that includes four rallies across three battleground states.

He’ll begin Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina, underscoring the significance of a state he has visited the past three days.

He then heads to Pennsylvania — perhaps the biggest prize on the electoral map — for rallies in Reading and Pittsburgh.

He will end his night — and likely spend the early hours of Election Day morning — in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That’s a campaign tradition for the former president who also held last-day rallies there during his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

After a visit to Scranton, Harris will speak in Allentown — a majority Hispanic city that’s home to tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans — at an event with rapper Fat Joe, whose parents were of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent.

Pennsylvania is a swing state that could decide the election. But the stop also comes after a comic at a recent Donald Trump rally suggested that Puerto Rico was “garbage.”

Harris later heads to Reading, where she plans to visit a Puerto Rican restaurant with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Supporters get ready before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Supporters get ready before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Supporters arrive before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Atrium Health Amphitheater, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Macon, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)