No Other Land won the top prize of Best Feature Documentary at the 40th IDA Documentary Awards along with Best Director for Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor. The documentary was also honored with the Courage Under Fire Award.
Directed by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli activists, No Other Land chronicles the resistance of the Palestinian community of Musafer Yatta in the southern West Bank to continuing violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers. Filmed over several years, the film chronicles a bond of friendship between Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham as they unite to tell the story of Musafer Yatta’s residents.
No Other Land continued its awards sweep after winning Best Documentary at the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle, along with the National Board of Review Freedom’ of ‘s Expression Award.
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat was also a big winner, nabbing two awards, Best Writing for writer-director Johan Grimonprez, and Best Editing for Rik Chaubet.
In addition, Luther: Never Too Much director Dawn Porter was honored with the Career Achievement Award, Black Box Diaries director Shiori Ito with the Emerging Filmmaker Award.
See the nominees for the 40th IDA Documentary Awards.
40th IDA Documentary Awards Winners
Best Feature Documentary
Winner: No Other Land (Palestine, Norway, USA | Director: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor & Yuval Abraham | Producer: Fabien Greenberg & bård Kjøge Rønning)
Best Short Documentary
Winner: Instruments of a Beating Heart (Japan | The New York Times Op-Docs | Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki | Producer: Eric Nyari)
Best Director
Winner: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor & Yuval Abraham, No Other Land (Palestine, Norway, USA)
Best Cinematography
Winner: Ruslan Fedotov, Queendom (Greenwich Entertainment | USA, France)
Best Editing
Winner: Rik Chaubet, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber | Belgium, France, Netherlands)
Best Original Music Score
Winner: Víctor Hernández Stumpfhauser, Frida (Amazon MGM Studios | USA)
Best Writing
Winner: Johan Grimonprez, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Lorber | Belgium, France, Netherlands)
Best TV Feature Documentary
Winner: Two American Families: 1991-2024 (PBS | USA | Directors: Tom Casciato, Kathleen Hughes Producers: Tom Casciato, Kathleen Hughes, Frank Koughan, Nina Chaudry)
Best Curated Series
Winner: Independent Lens (PBS | USA | EPs: Lois Vossen, Carrie Lozano)
Best Episodic Series
Winner: We’re Here (HBO | Max | USA | Director: Peter LoGreco | Producers: Erin Haglund, Kimberly Greenhut | EP: Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Johnnie Ingram, Stephen Warren, Peter LoGreco, Erin Gamble)
Best Limited Series
Winner: A Town Called Victoria (PBS | USA | Director: Li Lu | Producers: Li Lu, Anthony Pedone | EPs: Deniese Davis, Hunter Arnold, Lois Vossen, Rachel Raney, Royd Chung, Donald Young, Stephen Gong, Li Lu)
Best Music Documentary
Winner: Omar & Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird (Oscilloscope Laboratories | USA | Director: Nicolas Jack Davies | Producers: Johann Scheerer)
Best Audio Documentary
Winner: “What’s Up, Michael Freeman?” (Ear Hustle and Radiotopia from PRX | USA | Host: Earlonne Woods, Nigel Poor | Engineers: Earlonne Woods, Fernando Arruda, Harry Culhane | USA | Producers: Amy Standen, Bruce Wallace, Rahsaan Thomas)
David L. Wolper Student Documentary
Winner: Her Name Was Zehava (NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute | USA, Israel | Director: Tamar Baruch | Producer: Tamar Baruch)