The pair became unlikely friends and allies, with Abraham showing up regularly to support Adras activism.
Once they began collaborating, it felt even more important to share the footage on a global level.
And we are going to continue our work.
Co-directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham in ‘No Other Land’Antipode Films
Its our lifes mission to end the injustice that is going on here and to make this place better.
Its important because it raises awareness for the film.
And we are grateful that we were nominated.
Gaza is destroyed as a place.
Basels community might not exist in a few years if there is no change in U.S. foreign policy.
Hamdans house could be destroyed at any moment.
Symbols are helpful, but we need action and we need change.
Even the Oscar statue cannot save Hamdans house.
Here, Adra and Abraham discuss the making ofNo Other Landand what they hope viewers do after seeing it.
Literally all of the West Bank cities and towns and communities are under a siege.
Soldiers are [there] 24 hours at checkpoints, making peoples lives miserable.
At some of the checkpoints, you will find thousands of cars waiting.
At some hundreds or dozens it depends on the checkpoint.
There are bombardments of residents homes and demolition of them.
It has been crazy in the last few weeks.
To speak about the details would take hours, because what is going on is really crazy.
Its never been as bad as it is today.
My whole life is affected by whats going on.
I did not imagine I would make a movie, because when I started I was a teenager.
I didnt know much about the world of filmmaking or where I could get with this footage.
We sometimes used it on social media or sent it to human rights organizations for them to publish.
Yuval joined as a journalist to write about what was going on.
Rachel was around with a camera filming.
We didnt have an idea at first.
We liked the idea, although none of us had experience of doing long documentary.
We started the journey together about five years ago.
And then we were filming for five years and we filmed a lot.
We filmed everything, all the time.
It was a huge challenge to edit it.
It was thousands of hours of footage.
In the film, we see the IDF soldiers attempt to stop you from filming.
They always give a shot to make it hard for us to get to places and to film.
To check our IDs and the cameras and to waste our time until the bulldozer could destroy the place.
If we came to film, they would give a shot to arrest us.
It was really one of the moments that I will never forget.
It was very scary.
My home was invaded multiple times.
They always venture to prevent the documentation.
They dont want people to see what theyre doing here.
We live in a situation full of injustice.
A lot of times we feel a bias from the mainstream media.
Masafer Yatta, today, the vast majority of it is under threat of demolition by the Israeli government.
The law is imposed on us by power.
Its a military law.
The issue on the ground is they are pushing us out of our land to build settlements.
Thats the sad part.
But the situation on the ground is going very badly.
So, unfortunately, it has not, and the future does not look promising.
When we made it we always thought between ourselves, Will people see it?
We were afraid it would just be our parents.
We edited the movie basically in a cave in Masafer Yatta.
We didnt have a big, sophisticated budget.
And we are going to continue to document, because that is what we do.
I dont know how effective it is and I can still hope it will have some effect eventually.
BA:We never imagined that wed be nominated for the Oscar or that wed be going there.
But its a great thing.
But then we also wanted there to be some emotion of power and hope.
The people there are not just victims.
They are holding on to their lands.
They are living life.
BA:I want people to feel some responsibility.
That they will help us get out of this.
Today with this disappointing situation, they are our hope.
And we hope that they will act.
