The Palestinian-Israeli film No Other Land, about the West Bank, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film on Sunday night, with the film's team referencing the conflict in the Middle East.
The collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown at the southern edge of the West Bank, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone.
Adra's pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.
On stage, Palestinian journalist Adra said his community is "always feeling displacement" and "under occupation".
He called for the world "to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people".
Congratulations to NO OTHER LAND, this year's Best Documentary Feature Film! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/VHY12iych9
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 3, 2025
Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham said he lives "free under civil law", but Adra lives under another legislation.
Abraham added that "the foreign policy" of the US "is helping block this path" to Palestinians having their own freedoms.
He also said "there is another way, for life and the living".
No Other Land beat out competition from Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Black Box Diaries, and Soundtrack to a Coup d'État.
The 97th Academy Awards air on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Monday from 9:30pm.
Source: Press Association
