A scene from “No Other Land.” Antipode Films via AP

The Dolby Theatre filled with loud cheers and applause Sunday night after “No Other Land” won the Oscar for best documentary feature. Many audience members stood to honor the film’s directors — a Palestinian-Israeli collective of activists Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor — as they made their way to the stage. But this win wasn’t like most of the others celebrated that night.

“No Other Land,” the highest-grossing of all the nominated documentaries, lacks a U.S. distributor. As of Tuesday last week, a source close to the film, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about sales and distribution, said there had not been any movement on this front. The directors – particularly Abraham, who is Israeli, and Adra, a Palestinian — have stated publicly that U.S. distributors fear political backlash for promoting the feature, which documents the Israeli military forcefully displacing Palestinian people in Masafer Yatta, a group of hamlets in the southern West Bank. It was independently booked in theaters around the country, including a one-week Oscar-qualifying run at New York City’s Film at Lincoln Center, and will play on around 120 screens this weekend.

“About two months ago, I became a father,” Adra said during the collective’s acceptance speech Sunday. “My hope [for] my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers’ violence, home demolitions and forcible displacement that my community in Masafer Yatta is living and facing every day under Israeli occupation. ‘No Other Land’ reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades and still resist. We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.”

The footage in “No Other Land” was captured from 2019 to 2023, concluding right before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Much of the film consists of Abraham and Adra confronting on camera the Israeli soldiers who tear down homes and evict residents in the area where Adra grew up, citing a court order that claims the land has been legally designated a military firing zone. A friendship grows between Abraham and Adra, whose family looks after the privileged visitor. (Co-directors Ballal, who is Palestinian, and Szor, who is Israeli, are not major figures in the film.)

Basel Adra (at the microphone) and behind, from left, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham accept the award for best documentary feature film for “No Other Land” during the Oscars on March 2. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

At the Oscars, Abraham stated that, “when I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal.”

“We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life,” he continued. “There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country [the United States] is helping to block this path. Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe? There is another way.”

“No Other Land” has attracted criticism from some politicians. After its Oscar win, Israeli culture minister Miki Zohar wrote on social media that “the filmmakers chose to amplify narratives that distort Israel’s image vis-à-vis international audiences.” Last year, German culture minister Claudia Roth said Abraham’s and Adra’s speeches while accepting best documentary at the Berlin International Film Festival in February were “shockingly one-sided.” (Abraham, who describes himself as a Jewish descendant of Holocaust victims, vehemently pushed back on this assessment.)

Still, “No Other Land” managed to find distribution in 24 countries outside of the United States, including France and Britain. In the United States, it relied on Cinetic Media, a management and media advisory company that worked with distribution consultant Michael Tuckman to book individual theaters from Jan. 31 onward. Cinetic has maintained a relationship with the film’s producers after the Oscar win and will facilitate a distribution deal should any interest be expressed. (The film will not stream on major platforms without such an agreement.)

In January, Abraham described U.S. distributors’ reluctance as “completely political.”

“We’re obviously talking about the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, and it’s very ugly,” he said in an interview with Variety magazine. “The film is very, very critical of Israeli policies. As an Israeli, I think that’s a really good thing because we need to be critical of these policies so they can change. But I think the conversation in the United States appears to be far less nuanced – there is much less space for this kind of criticism, even when it comes in the form of a film.”

There were endless risks involved in making “No Other Land.” Abraham and Adra are seen facing violent pushback from Israeli forces, who inflict harm on Masafer Yatta residents who resist the forced evictions. At the Oscars, Abraham underscored the power in fighting back as a team.

“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis,” he said, “because together our voices are stronger.”