The filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning Palestinian documentary “No other country” spent its many months on the awards circuit calling out American distributors for their reluctance to offer film a US theatrical distribution deal, told IndieWire last November that “distributors are afraid to engage on the subject of Israel and Palestine.”
Since its independent theatrical release and Oscar win, the film is now finally being made available on streaming. The filmmakers have chosen to once again release the film independently, making it available for digital purchase on demand and rentals via Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play and YouTube, as they announced on Instagram earlier today. But, as it turns out, “No Other Land” had interest from a major American distributor to release the film via SVOD streaming, but the filmmakers “rejected” the offer.
It was the distributor THE BADand in a press release, co-directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham said they ultimately turned down the deal over the long-running controversy over MUBI’s $100 million investment from Sequoia Capital.
“This film shows the reality of Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestinians – but that truth apparently did not fit into the narrative that major US streamers wanted to promote. We talked to MUBI for months and at first thought our film had found its home, but finally we learned that they accepted a huge investment from Sequoia Capital,” Adra said in a statement.
“Besides being unethical, it made no sense to us that they would take our film showing Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, and then also partner with a company that contributes to that oppression,” Abraham added.
MUBI declined to comment when reached by IndieWire.
MUBI secured a $100 million investment from Sequoia Capital in May 2024, at which point backlash slowly grew over the fact that, in addition to MUBI (and many other tech companies and investments), Sequoia had also invested in Israeli military technology startup Kela. The startup was founded by Israeli intelligence veterans in 2024 after the October 7 terrorist attacks, as well as two other Israeli defense companies.
Since that investment became public, filmmakers and even employees have internally called on MUBI to return the investment, accusing the art house streamer and distributor of being complicit in genocide in Palestine.
In August, CEO Efe Cakarel posted one long statement emphasizes that Sequoia is only a minority investor with no oversight of programming, editorial or financial decisions; that Cakarel remains the majority shareholder in MUBI; and that any claims that MUBI’s profits would go to finance other companies in Sequoia’s portfolio were untrue. It also clarified that Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire, who came under fire for Islamophobic social media posts, had no involvement in MUBI operationally or strategically. The company has also introduced an “ethical financing and investment policy” to establish criteria for future investments.
But the perception and backlash has persisted. Last month, a The Los Angeles Film Festival dropped MUBI as a presenting sponsor over the controversy, and the “No Other Country” news is the latest example.
Although technically released without the help of a formal distributor, “No Other Land” had a long theatrical run, thanks to help from other independent exhibition partners, and the film has since grossed $3.6 million worldwide at the box office, making it one of the the year’s highest-grossing documentary.
Adra wrote one guest columnist for IndieWire back in February about the ongoing crisis in Masafer Yatta. A co-director on the film, Hamdan Ballal, was attacked and arrested back in March. In September, Adra revealed that his the home in the West Bank was raided by the IDF. And two months ago, a “No Other Land” collaborator, Awdah Hathaleen, was killed in the conflict.