By Leonard Eiger

The winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary, “No Other Land”, will be shown at Friday Harbor’s Palace Theatre from Friday, March 21st through Tuesday, March 25th.

“No Other Land,” made by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, chronicles Israeli settler violence and the demolitions of Palestinian homes by Israel Defense Forces in the occupied West Bank. It was filmed beginning in 2019 and ending in 2023, before the October 7th attack by Hamas.

Palace Theatre Manager Aaron King said they are showing this film, as they do with many films, because it is an Academy Award winner; the theatre is not making a political statement.

“No Other Land” Co-director Basal Adra spoke poignantly at the Oscars, saying, “About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I am living now, always fearing violence, home demolitions, forced displacement that my community, Masafer Yatta, is facing every day. ‘No Other Land’ reflects the harsh reality we have been enduring for decades and still resist as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.”

Israeli journalist and co-director Yuval Abraham also spoke from his heart saying, “We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other… When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws, that destroy lives, that he cannot control. There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in [the United States] is helping to block this path. Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe? There is another way…”

Sheila O’Malley quoted from a poem by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha in her review of “No Other Land,” saying the film “is an act of bearing witness to the “shadows no one’s attending to.” Just watching is not enough, but it’s the start of “attending to” those in pain. At least it’s not turning away or thinking it “doesn’t matter.”

I look forward to seeing “No Other Land” as an opportunity to look beyond the news to hear the voices that are otherwise not heard, and to see those who are essentially unseen. Documentaries can help us understand and connect with our world. It is my hope that our community will watch this film and come together in a dialogue, connecting with each other, and better connecting our small island community with the world – because it does matter.

NOTE: The author is promoting “No Other Land” as an interested and concerned citizen, and is in no way affiliated with the Palace Theatre.