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‘No Other Land’ Director Calls Israeli-Settler Attack ‘Worst Moment of My Life’

Hamdan Ballal, the Oscar-winning co-director of 'No Other Land,' has described being attacked by Israeli settlers and detained, in a new essay.

Ballal offered a detailed account of the harrowing experience, which he called “the worst moment of my life,” in a New York Times op-ed. The film was made between 2019 and 2023 and documents Israel ’s violent treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, with a particular focus on Massager Yatta, where both Adra and Ballal live. Following the attack, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a lukewarm statement that neither referred to the attack, nor mentioned Ballal or No Other Land by name, but condemned “suppressing artists for their work.” Following widespread criticism, and an open-letter signed by numerous A-list actors — including Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Gore, and Penélope Cruz — the Academy released an equally lukewarm apology, saying, “We regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name.”

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