The young Palestinian activist Basel Adra lives in Masafer Yatta, a centuries-old network of Bedouin villages in the West Bank. His community is the target of an aggressive Israeli eviction campaign, supposedly to make way for a military base. During the day, bulldozers flatten villages, at night desperate residents rebuild their homes.
Working with the Jewish-Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and two co-directors, Adra started a film collective. From the summer of 2019, they turned their cameras on the soldiers. The jerky hand-held images emphasize how precarious the situation is. Everyday scenes show a friendship blossoming between the two activists. Using old home videos and a voice-over, Adra explains that the oppression afflicting his community has been going on much longer.
Although the documentary was finished in October 2023, the directors end with disturbing images of Masafer Yatta in wartime. It makes this urgent film—awarded the Berlinale Best Documentary Prize and winner of many audience awards—both a history lesson and a tragic prologue.
Stills
