{"id":38805,"date":"2025-02-21T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=38805"},"modified":"2025-02-21T23:59:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T23:59:59","slug":"a-palestinian-film-is-an-oscars-favorite-%e2%88%92-so-why-is-it-so-hard-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/a-palestinian-film-is-an-oscars-favorite-%e2%88%92-so-why-is-it-so-hard-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"A Palestinian film is an Oscars favorite \u2212 so why is it so hard to see?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Drew Paul<\/a>, University of Tennessee<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many low-budget, independent films, an Oscar nomination is a golden ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The publicity can translate into theatrical releases or rereleases, along with more on-demand rentals and sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, for \u201cNo Other Land<\/a>,\u201d a Palestinian film nominated for best documentary at the 2025 Academy Awards<\/a>, this exposure is unlikely to translate into commercial success in the U.S. That\u2019s because the film has been unable to find a company to distribute<\/a> it in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo Other Land\u201d chronicles the efforts of Palestinian townspeople to combat an Israeli plan to demolish their villages in the West Bank and use the area as a military training ground. It was directed by four Palestinian and Israeli activists and journalists: Basel Adra<\/a>, who is a resident of the area facing demolition, Yuval Abraham<\/a>, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor. While the filmmakers have organized screenings<\/a> in a number of U.S. cities, the lack of a national distributor makes a broader release unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film distributors are a crucial but often unseen link in the chain that allows a film to reach cinemas and people\u2019s living rooms. In recent years it has become more common for controversial award-winning films to run into issues finding a distributor<\/a>. Palestinian films have encountered additional barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a scholar of Arabic<\/a> who has written about Palestinian cinema, I\u2019m disheartened by the difficulties \u201cNo Other Land\u201d has faced. But I\u2019m not surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of film distributors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Distributors are often invisible to moviegoers. But without one<\/a>, it can be difficult for a film to find an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distributors typically acquire rights to a film for a specific country or set of countries. They then market films<\/a> to movie theaters, cinema chains and streaming platforms. As compensation, distributors receive a percentage of the revenue generated by theatrical and home releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film \u201cSoundtrack to a Coup D’Etat<\/a>,\u201d another finalist for best documentary, shows how this process typically works. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival<\/a> in January 2024 and was acquired for distribution just a few months later by Kino Lorber<\/a>, a major U.S.-based distributor of independent films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inability to find a distributor is not itself noteworthy. No film is entitled to distribution, and most films by newer or unknown directors face long odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is unusual for a film like \u201cNo Other Land,\u201d which has garnered critical acclaim and has been recognized<\/a> at various film festivals and award shows. Some have pegged it as a favorite<\/a> to win best documentary at the Academy Awards. And \u201cNo Other Land\u201d has been able to find distributors in Europe<\/a>, where it\u2019s easily accessible on multiple streaming platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why can\u2019t \u201cNo Other Land\u201d find a distributor in the U.S.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple of factors at play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shying away from controversy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, film critics have noticed a trend: Documentaries on controversial topics have faced distribution difficulties<\/a>. These include a film<\/a> about a campaign by Amazon workers to unionize and a documentary<\/a> about Adam Kinzinger, one of the few Republican congresspeople to vote to impeach Donald Trump in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of course, has long stirred controversy. But the release of \u201cNo Other Land\u201d comes at a time when the issue is particularly salient. The Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023<\/a>, and the ensuing Israeli bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip have become a polarizing issue in U.S. domestic politics, reflected in the campus protests and crackdowns<\/a> in 2024. The filmmakers\u2019 critical comments about the Israeli occupation of Palestine have also garnered backlash<\/a> in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People
Locals attend a screening of \u2018No Other Land\u2019 in the village of A-Tuwani in the West Bank on March 14, 2024. Yahel Gazit\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yet the fact that this conflict has been in the news since October 2023 should also heighten audience interest in a film such as \u201cNo Other Land\u201d \u2013 and, therefore, lead to increased sales, the metric that distributors care about the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, an earlier film that also documents Palestinian protests against Israeli land expropriation, \u201c5 Broken Cameras<\/a>,\u201d was a finalist for best documentary at the 2013 Academy Awards. It was able to find a U.S. distributor. However, it had the support of a major European Union documentary development program called Greenhouse<\/a>. The support of an organization like Greenhouse, which had ties to numerous production and distribution companies in Europe and the U.S., can facilitate the process of finding a distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, \u201cNo Other Land,\u201d although it has a Norwegian co-producer<\/a> and received some funding from organizations in Europe and the U.S., was made primarily by a grassroots filmmaking collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stages for protest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While distribution challenges may be recent, controversies surrounding Palestinian films are nothing new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of them stem from the fact that the system of film festivals, awards and distribution is primarily based on a movie\u2019s nation of origin. Since there is no sovereign Palestinian state \u2013 and many countries and organizations have not recognized the state of Palestine<\/a> \u2013 the question of how to categorize Palestinian films has been hard to resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2002, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected the first ever<\/a> Palestinian film submitted to the best foreign language film category \u2013 Elia Suleiman<\/a>\u2019s \u201cDivine Intervention<\/a>\u201d \u2013 because Palestine was not recognized as a country by the United Nations. The rules were changed for the following year\u2019s awards ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, the cast of the film \u201cLet It Be Morning<\/a>,\u201d which had an Israeli director but primarily Palestinian actors, boycotted the Cannes Film Festival<\/a> in protest of the film\u2019s categorization as an Israeli film rather than a Palestinian one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film festivals and other cultural venues have also become places to make statements<\/a> about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and engage in protest<\/a>. For example, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, the right-wing Israeli culture minister wore a controversial<\/a> \u2013 and meme-worthy<\/a> \u2013 dress that featured the Jerusalem skyline in support of Israeli claims of sovereignty over the holy city, despite the unresolved status<\/a> of Jerusalem under international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman
Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev wears a dress featuring the old city of Jerusalem during the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. Antonin Thuillier\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the 2024 Academy Awards<\/a>, a number of attendees, including Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo and Mahershala Ali, wore red pins in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, and pro-Palestine protesters delayed the start of the ceremonies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So even though a film like \u201cNo Other Land\u201d addresses a topic of clear interest to many people in the U.S., it faces an uphill battle to finding a distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder whether a win at the Oscars would even be enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drew Paul<\/a>, Associate Professor of Arabic, University of Tennessee<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drew Paul, University of Tennessee For many low-budget, independent films, an Oscar nomination is a golden ticket. The publicity can translate into theatrical releases or rereleases, along with more on-demand rentals and sales. However, for \u201cNo Other Land,\u201d a Palestinian film nominated for best documentary at the 2025 Academy Awards, this exposure is unlikely to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":38806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025,7,10,39,36,38],"tags":[2352,8835,16055,2383,7218,349,4946,3666,885,891,886,860,2353,16054],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38807,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38805\/revisions\/38807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}