Gold Just Hit Another Record. This Junior Could Be Next.

This copper junior was the smallest company invited to a top global mining conference. With nearly 1B pounds CuEq and 50,000m of funded drilling, this story won't stay quiet for long.

A Palestinian-Israeli collective made one of 2024's most lauded docs. Will it be released in the US?

JAKE COYLE
November 01, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) -- Basel Adra, a Palestinian, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli, spent five years making a movie that depicts daily life in Adra's village under Israeli occupation. The resulting film, "No Other Land," has been hailed as one of the year's most powerful documentaries, winning prizes at international film festivals.

It's also stoked controversy, prompted death threats for its makers and -- despite the acclaim -- remains without an American distributor.

Opening this week in France and next week in the United Kingdom, the feature-length documentary has already sold in many international territories. Its status as an Academy Awards contender remains intact -- after hosting it during the New York Film Festival, the Lincoln Center will screen the film for a one-week, Oscar-qualifying run beginning Friday. But the filmmakers believe the monthslong inability to find a U.S. distributor boils down to political reasons, with Election Day in the presidential contest between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump looming.

"Maybe they're afraid to be defunded if Trump wins," says Abraham, speaking in an interview from Paris alongside Adra. "But Basel risked his life for years since he was a young boy to film this material. That requires a lot of courage. Can we not have one distributor with the courage, OK, to take a certain risk, but to distribute such an acclaimed and such an important documentary?"

"No Other Land" began long before the current chapter of the war in Gaza. It's told largely from the perspective of Adra, who was born in Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the occupied West Bank.

The area, a rugged mountainous region south of Hebron, has for decades been a site of protest against the Israeli government, which ordered Palestinians off the land to make room for a military training ground.

In 1980, the Israeli military declared Masafer Yatta a closed "firing zone." Israeli authorities said the residents -- Arab Bedouin who practice a traditional form of agriculture and animal herding and have lived on the land since before 1967 -- only used the area part of the year and had no permanent structures there at the time.

Adra was born into this; his father was an activist on behalf of the community and Adra was 5 when his mother first took him to a demonstration.

Following a 2022 court decision, the army set up checkpoints and regularly demolished community structures -- including a school. A camera, Adra says, "became the only tool beside our steadfastness." He captured the regular demolitions of homes, the violent encounters with Israeli settlers and the ongoing effect the struggle has had on the villagers.

"I started filming when we started to end," he says in the film, which takes place between 2019 and 2023.

It's a long-term, on-the-ground portrait of the realities of life under Israeli military law. Families are uprooted. Children grow up in poverty. People die. But its makers never envisioned how much worse things could get.

Made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective (the other two directors are Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor), "No Other Land" wrapped shooting last October, just as the Hamas attack occurred and Israel's war in Gaza began.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed over 1,200 people across southern Israel, taking some 250 people hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive on the Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, over half of whom are women and children, say Palestinian health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. In the West Bank, frequent Israeli raids into Palestinian cities and towns, as well as mounting violence from Jewish settlers, have driven up the death toll since Oct. 7 to more than 760 killed.

"I look at the news just over the past few days. Hundreds of people in Gaza being killed, Israeli hostages dying, massacres happening every day, nonstop," says Abraham, a Jewish journalist from southern Israel. "And we're here showing a film in air-conditioned cinemas. There's a big dissonance in participating in festivals when nothing is festive and everything is becoming worse."

The war in Gaza -- and now the war in Lebanon and the specter of one with Iran -- has inevitably altered the landscape for "No Other Land," a film that marries documentary filmmaking and activism to put a human face to Palestinian suffering. It's won awards in Berlin, Switzerland, Vancouver and South Korea. But for Adra, little of that matters.

"We made this movie to not lose Masafer Yatta, to not lose our homes," says Adra. "It's very successful for the movie, but when I go back to the reality, it's changing for the worse. So there's this conflict on my mind. The movie is succeeding and has publicity, people want to watch it, but it's not helping what's happening on the ground. It doesn't change anything."

"No Other Land" was enmeshed in controversy soon after its February debut at the Berlin Film Festival. While accepting the documentary award, Adra spoke about the difficulty of doing so "when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza." Abraham called for an end to Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In Germany, where anti-Israel statements have acute sensitivity, numerous politicians criticized the filmmakers for making no mention of Israeli victims or Hamas. Claudia Roth, Germany's culture minister, said the speeches were "shockingly one-sided." Kai Wegner, mayor of Berlin, called them "intolerable relativization." Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to Germany, called it "blatant antisemitic discourse."

Abraham, who says he received death threats, was "enraged" by the response. As a descendent of Holocaust victims, he believes labeling criticism of Israeli policies as antisemitic empties the phrase of meaning.

"We called for equality between Palestinians and Israelis. We called for an end to the occupation. We spoke about what we see as the political roots of the violence that exists in our land. To me, this the most important message that there can be," says Abraham. "It feels like we're living in the '1984' novel where you make these kinds of statements and that's somehow labeled as controversial."

Adra and Abraham's relationship, one they hope can stand for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, is a central component of "No Other Land."

Together, they rush to document the arrival of tanks or military bulldozers; they lament the little attention their social media posts or articles find online; they ponder their futures.

But there is also tension in their differences. One lives under civilian law, the other under military law. Whether Adra will be able to pass through checkpoints to travel abroad is always in question. In the film, their Palestinian co-director, Ballal, is seen skeptically questioning Abraham's place in the struggle.

"It could be your brother or friend who destroyed my home," Ballal tells him.

"As an Israeli, I believe that the status quo is harmful for Israelis for the simple fact that security in the land is mutual," Abraham tells The Associated Press. "People are dependent on one another. We cannot expect to have security if Palestinians don't have freedom."

Even before the war in Gaza, Adra and Abraham struggled to gain international attention for Masafer Yatta.

Now, their cause is dwarfed by the destruction in Gaza, and it's difficult for them to feel any hope. Days after Oct. 7, Adra's cousin was shot and killed point blank by a settler, an incident captured in the film. "For me," says Adra, "there's nothing clear where this is going."

In meetings with distributors, the filmmakers say, there's been a lot of interest. "They say they love the film, but then they're hesitant," says Abraham.

Whether U.S. film distributors have grown too cautious politically was also a prominent question for the Trump drama "The Apprentice," which only found a home with Briarcliff Entertainment shortly before it was released last month. "Union," a well-received documentary about labor organization at Amazon, recently resorted to self-distributing its release.

"Once upon a time, American film distributors and exhibitors embraced controversy -- especially when it came to acclaimed movies whose controversy was inextricably intertwined with their humanity," the New York magazine critic Bilge Ebiri wrote of "No Other Land." "Are these companies holding back out of budgetary reasons, out of cowardice, out of political disagreement?"

"It's not allowing the conversation even to begin by silencing our voices, the voices of a Palestinian who is resisting the occupation and the voice of an Israeli who is also against occupation and believes in a future of equality and justice for everyone," Abraham says. "Why are you blocking these kinds of voices from entering the space of mainstream cinema in the U.S.?" (The film also lacks an Israeli distributor.)

However it gets seen, the filmmakers hope "No Other Land" remains a vital document to the current crisis.

"We wanted to send the message that the status quo is very harmful and it should change," says Adra. "A political solution is needed. That was before Oct. 7. We don't want to get to a day such as Oct. 7. We want to warn global leaders to take actions and stop being complicit with the occupation."

"What's happening is very, very sad and tragic," he adds. "I never imagined in my lifetime that something like this can happen, and that the world would let it go on."

Continue Reading...

Popular

Feihe Struggles Amid China's Dairy Oversupply And Falling Birth Rates

Declining birth rates and China's slowing economy are taking a toll on the company and its peers as they grapple with oversupply and asset impairments on excess inventory

This Tiny Tech Stock Could Be the Next Big Platform Play - Ad

One under-the-radar company is embedding intelligence into everyday glass-already powering Ferraris, aircraft, and city buses with adaptive surfaces and vision systems. It's not just a product. It's a platform.

Warren Buffett Skips Big Banks Like JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, Bets $459 Million On This One Asset

Warren Buffett has shifted his investment strategy, investing $459 million in Sirius XM after selling his stakes in Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

Social Security Administration Sends 'Unbelievable' Email On Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill': Report

Email from SSA claims Trump's tax law will eliminate taxes on Social Security benefit. Critics call it politically motivated and incorrect.

Copper's Rally Is Back. This $31M Junior Is Sitting on a Potential Fortune - Ad

A high-grade copper-gold discovery in Quebec just delivered extremely high grade intercepts. Valuation? Just $31M. With copper breaking out, the timing here could be perfect. Get the symbol here.

Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: Come visit

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — has a message for the rest of the world: We’re waiting for you.

China is Tightening Critical Metal Supply-Investors Wondering Who Will Step Up - Ad

This metal powers everything from munitions to batteries. But with China imposing export controls, the West is scrambling for supply. One tiny firm may control a key N. American site-and investors are watching closely.

Buffett Tells Trustee to Put 90% of Money in This One Stock? - Ad

In a surprising move, Warren Buffett (the world's greatest investor, whose firm returned more than 5,000,000% gains), has instructed his trustee to put 90% of his personal money into one stock investment. Buffett says regular folks should be in this stock, too. A CPA and member of the Global CFA Institute explains how to use this stock to optimize your holdings.

Iran’s president orders country to suspend cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog IAEA

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors' ability to track Tehran's program that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels.

What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill that passed the Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are getting closer to the finish line in getting their tax and spending cut bill through Congress with a final House vote possible on Wednesday.

Stunning Trump Policy Unlocks Upfront Cash Payouts - Ad

The U.S. has collected $15B from Trump's tariffs - and now, thanks to Title 15, you could claim your own $100-$1,000 instant upfront cash payouts. No stocks needed. Use your phone and this income technique to collect upfront payouts now.

Lisa Murkowski Defends Alaska Carveouts As Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders And Rand Paul Condemn Trump's 'Big Beautiful' Bill: 'Not Good Enough For The Rest Of Our Nation'

Senators across party lines are fiercely divided over Donald Trump's $3.3 trillion "Big Beautiful Bill," which narrowly passed the Senate and now heads to the House amid concerns over debt, tax cuts, and social program rollbacks.

Iran's Top Diplomat To UN Says Uranium Enrichment To Continue: An 'Inalienable Right'

Iran reaffirms commitment to nuclear program despite US strikes. Ambassador cites Non-Proliferation Treaty as justification. Impact remains debated.

Gold Just Hit Another Record. This Junior Could Be Next. - Ad

This copper junior was the smallest company invited to a top global mining conference. With nearly 1B pounds CuEq and 50,000m of funded drilling, this story won't stay quiet for long.

Amazon's AI-Powered 4-Day Prime Day Will Drive Billions In Sales

Bank of America analyst maintains Buy rating on Amazon with $248 price forecast, noting 11th Prime Day event to have extended 4-day window with AI savings tools and estimated $21.4B in GMV.

Inside The Trump Family's $620 Million Crypto Empire

Since retaking the White House, Donald Trump's reported net worth has remained broadly stable, around $6.5 billion on Election Day to roughly $6.4 billion today.

Most Bitcoin Holders Have No Idea This Exists - Ad

I call it "Bitcoin Skimming"... and it allows you to "skim" cash into your account thanks to 2025's surging Bitcoin market. You don't have to buy or sell Bitcoin. Not one single penny's worth. In my latest video briefing, I'll give you everything you need to "skim" your first payout -- and it won't cost you a penny.

Dubai’s booming restaurant scene is feeling the heat of high costs and high failure rates

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — From suspended tables to underwater lounges, some 13,000 food and drink establishments in Dubai pull out all the stops to attract customers in one of the world’s most saturated dining markets.

$1,016/Day in Crypto - Witness the Proven Strategy Now - Ad

Last chance! The "365x Return in 90 Days" crypto Workshop replay disappears this [DAY]. Discover the simple, 92%-win-rate system that turned $250 into $91,457-no charts, no stress.

Vistra's Rally Explained: Where Is The Stock Headed Next

Vistra stock's bullish structure remains intact. Here's a breakdown of what triggered the move and where VST is likely headed next.

Revived Wartime Resource May Soon Power Everything from Bullets to Batteries - Ad

This overlooked metal isn't just for the battlefield anymore. It's part of the future energy grid, too. This could be a rare early-stage play in a market that's heating up fast.

In a blow to Milei, a US judge orders Argentina to turn over its majority stake in state oil company

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The fate of Argentina’s state-run oil company was thrown into doubt Monday as a U.S. judge ordered the cash-strapped country to give up its 51% controlling stake in YPF in partial compensation for seizing the shares of former investors during its 2012 nationalization of the energy group.

Autonomous Vehicles Hit Their 'ChatGPT Moment' — Best Stocks To Watch Now

Autonomous vehicles are entering their ‘ChatGPT moment' as AI unlocks real-world deployment. Discover 28 top stocks in a $1.2 trillion market.

Bitcoin Just Crossed $120,000 ... How High Will It Go? - Ad

Weiss Ratings Crypto Expert, Juan Villaverde believes that 2025 will be the biggest year in crypto history and there is a new coin that he believes could change Bitcoin and Ethereum from the "Big Two" to the "Big Three" this year.

Kevin O'Leary Says Steve Jobs Was 'Not A Nice Guy' But Taught Him A Success Formula That Elon Musk Now Uses

Kevin O'Leary learned the importance of focus from Steve Jobs and now teaches CEOs to prioritize the next 18 hours for success. Elon Musk surpasses Jobs in concentration.

Unveil the 365X Crypto Secret - Replay Disappearing Soon! - Ad

Only 12 hours left! Watch the replay of the "365x Return in 90 Days" crypto Workshop before it's gone. Discover Joel and Adam's 4-part system, real success stories, and how to start mirroring their trades. This is your last chance-don't miss out.

California energy regulator recommends pause on plan to penalize excess oil profits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California should pause Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to penalize oil companies if their profits climb too high, a top energy regulator said Friday while unveiling proposals aimed at addressing high gas prices.

Copper's Spiking - And This Junior Has the Grades to Match - Ad

Copper is climbing again - and this time, it looks tariff-proof. A $31M junior just posted nearly 1B lbs of copper equivalent. With insiders and institutions piling in, this could be the next breakout.

Michael Novogratz's Galaxy And Invesco File To Launch Solana ETF: What You Should Know About QSOL

Asset management giant Invesco filed for a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund focused on Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) on Wednesday, expanding its offerings beyond Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).

Drone debris found in Ukraine indicates Russia is using new technology from Iran

Last week, Ukrainian drone hunters picking up the debris from Russia’s nightly assault on their cities found a weapon that stood out from the rest.

This Tiny Tech Stock Could Be the Next Big Platform Play - Ad

One under-the-radar company is embedding intelligence into everyday glass-already powering Ferraris, aircraft, and city buses with adaptive surfaces and vision systems. It's not just a product. It's a platform.

Trending Now

Information, charts or examples are for illustration and educational purposes only and not for individualized investment management This message contains commercial elements, such as advertising. We only send these offers to those who have opted in to our newsletter. Past performance is not indicative of future results. For these reasons we strongly suggest trading in a DEMO/Simulated account. The information provided by us is for educational and informational purposes only. We make no representations or warranties concerning the products, practices or procedures of any company or entity mentioned or recommended and have not determined if the statements and opinions of the advertiser are accurate, correct or truthful. If you use, act upon or make decisions in reliance on information contained or any external source linked within it, you do so at your own peril and agree to hold us, our officers, directors, shareholders, affiliates and agents without fault.

Copyright trendadvisor.net
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service