Documentary Editor, Awards

EXCLUSIVE: The Israeli and Palestinian directors of No Other Land, the award-winning documentary set in the West Bank, are canceling a U.S. tour and returning home as violence erupts in the region.

Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor cut short what was supposed to be a month-long visit. (Co-director Hamdan Billal remained in the West Bank and did not make the trip to the U.S.). Adra, a Palestinian from the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, and Abraham, a Jewish Israeli from the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva, participated in a Q&A at the New York Film Festival on Sunday. They were scheduled to participate in a second Q&A on Tuesday night, hours after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles into Israel in apparent retaliation for Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. That attack, combined with Israel's ground invasion of southern Lebanon, prompted the filmmakers to cancel their plans to visit the Woodstock Film Festival, AFI Fest in Los Angeles and SFFILM's Doc Stories in San Francisco.

In an exclusive interview with Deadline before heading to the airport, the filmmakers explained how they arrived at their decision.