Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired distribution rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to No Other Land, the Palestinian-Israeli feature that won best documentary at this year’s Oscars.
Front Row struck the deal with Austrian sales outfit Autlook Filmsales and said it plans to release the film “imminently” in select cinemas, followed by a premium VOD release across MENA.
Filmed from 2019 to 2023, the documentary follows activist Basel Adra as he documents the destruction of Palestinian houses and villages in the Masafer Yatta region of the West Bank by Israeli miliary bulldozers. Adra’s efforts to raise awareness gain momentum with the support of Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, with whom he builds a friendship.
It is co-directed by Adra, Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, and producers are Fabien Greenberg and Bard Kjoge Ronning for Antipode Films and Yabayay Media.
The film made its debut at the Berlinale in 2024, winning the Panorama audience award and Berlinale documentary award. It went on to win nearly 70 awards after playing widely on the film festival circuit, culminating in victory at the Academy Awards – the first time a documentary has won an Oscar without a distribution company attached in the US.
Yesterday, it emerged that an arthouse cinema in Florida was threatened with the termination of its lease for screening the film.
In the US, the filmmakers opted for self-distribution in partnership with Cinetic Media, which facilitated theatrical bookings, and the film has grossed more than $1m in North America to date – more than double the grosses of the other four Oscar-nominated documentaries combined.
Dubai-based Front Row has a history of handling politically-charged documentaries and features such as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, 20 Days In Mariupol, Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider and Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now?.
Gianluca Chakra, CEO of Front Row Filmed Entertainment, said of its latest acquisition: “We have a duty to make sure it reaches audiences. In a world filled with dominant narratives, it is essential to consider diverse viewpoints. Through the lens of these filmmakers, the camera transforms into a potent tool for truth and resistance, safeguarding the history of their village.”
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