‘No Other Land’ directors pull film from MUBI due to Israeli arms ties

The directors of ‘No Other Land’ have announced that they are releasing their film independently on US streaming platforms today, 20 October. The film-makers also stated that they rejected a deal with MUBI due to revelations about the platform’s ties to Israeli arms manufacturers.

The movie, created by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, details the brutal displacement of Palestinians from the Masafer Yatta region by Israeli settlers. It made over $2.5m in the US box office alone, and recently won the Oscar for best documentary.

MUBI revelations

The directors made the announcement two days ago on Instagram. They captioned it:

We’re bringing our film to you completely independently, without a distributor, so that 100% of proceeds can go directly to the Masafer Yatta community.

Two of the four directors, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, introduced themselves in the video. They stated:

We’re excited to tell you that finally No Other Land is going to be available to preorder on the major platforms in the US.

We’re very excited to make the film available to you directly and independently, after unfortunately all of the major streamers and TV channels refused to show No Other Land in the United States despite winning the Oscar.

The one streamer who was interested, MUBI, we were talking to them for months and at the end we unfortunately learned that this streamer is receiving money from a company, Sequoia fund, which is also funding Israeli weapons companies, so we couldn’t cooperate with them.

MUBI is based in Britain. In addition to streaming, the platform also acts as a production company and film distributor. It focuses its catalogue on independent, international and art-house films and documentaries.

US venture fund Sequoia Capital made an unusual $100m investment in MUBI earlier this year. The fund is more well known for backing tech giants like Apple, Google and Youtube. Its investment pushed the indie film platform’s value up over a stratospheric $1bn.

Unfortunately, Sequoia is also linked to Kela, an Israeli defence startup created by four ex-IOF soldiers. Kela is currently working to incorporate AI into commercial technology to create a battlefield operating system for military applications.

All proceeds to Masafer Yatta

However, despite having to reject MUBI, the filmmakers were optimistic about the release:

But by doing it this way, we can make sure that all of the proceeds go directly to the Masafer Yatta community. So please order now to watch No Other Land, and all the proceeds will go to my community, Masafer Yatta, to help with the water system, with the education system, with the electricity system, to help my community continue to exist in the face of the occupation, and to stay steadfast.

Masafer Yatta is made up of a collection of villages to the south of Hebron. The Palestinian communities living there face the constant threat of violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. Israel classes the region as a closed military zone designated ‘Firing Zone 918’. It has repeatedly sought to forcibly evict the Palestinians and demolish their houses.

The ‘No Other Land’ directors spoke about the violence that is still being inflicted on Masafer Yatta since they made their film:

Since our movie No Other Land won the Oscar, things in Masafer Yatta are getting worse and worse. Hamdan, our friend and co-director of this movie, got brutally attacked by settlers, soldiers, and abducted for 24 hours. Our beloved brother and friend and activist Awdah Hathaleen was killed by an Israeli settler who is still free, and is coming and destroying Awdah’s property.

And this craziness of attacks and home demolitions, destruction of our villages by Israeli army and settlers is not stopping. So please watch No Other Land, join our campaign and our solidarity. We are not stopping, we will continue Inshallah to exist and to fight for our rights, and we want your hands with us, either if you are in the US or either if you can come and join us in the field here in our activism.

‘No Other Land’ will be available in the US starting today, 20 October. It’s streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Kinema, and Gathr.

It’s available at the following link in the US: https://supportmasaferyatta.com/

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Dogwoof