Join us for a screening and discussion of the documentary No Other Land, which recently won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

The film follows Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, who has been filming and fighting his community’s expulsion by Israeli forces since childhood.

After he crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle, the two work together to document the gradual destruction of Masafer Yatta, the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. Their complex bond is haunted by the extreme inequality between them: while Basel lives under a military occupation and Yuval moves through the world unrestricted and free.

The film, made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists between 2019 and 2023, was co-created as an act of creative resistance and a search for a path towards equality and justice.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion reflecting on how what is happening in Palestine fits into global questions of dispossession, displacement, and land sovereignty.

Paul Kohlbry, Postdoctoral Associate in Department of Anthropology

Natalie Melas, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature

Sabrina Axster, Migrations Postdoctoral Fellow

Deborah A. Starr (moderator), Professor of Modern Arabic and Hebrew Literature and Film in the Department of Near Eastern Studies

The event is cosponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Jewish Studies Program, and the Migrations Program, part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and the Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures Initiative.

Part of our "Doc Spots" series. Courtesy of Michael Tuckman Media. In Arabic, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Hot Stuff is an AIFIS film award winning documentary and part of a trio of Indonesian films that delve into energy policies in Indonesia, corporate ties to those policies, and their detrimental effects on local environments and populations.

Director Dandhy Laksono and Producer Cypri Dale will join GETSEA live from the University of Michigan’s Center for Southeast Asia Studies as 20 universities from across North America connect via Zoom to watch Hot Stuff simultaneously, followed by a discussion about the film, energy policy in Indonesia, and the new Prabowo Subianto administration’s response to local grassroots movements in the country.

A virtual-only option will be available for viewers from around the world to join as well. You can register for a remote viewing of the film & event by clicking here.

A panel discussion moderated by Rachel Beatty Riedl, Peggy Koenig ’78 Director of the Brooks School Center on Global Democracy

Panelists:

David Bateman, Associate ProfessorSuzanne Mettler, John L. Senior Professor of American InstitutionsKenneth Roberts, Richard J. Schwartz ProfessorSidney Tarrow, Emeritus Maxwell Upson Professor of Government and Adjunct Professor, Cornell Law School

This panel discussion is hosted by Center on Global Democracy, and co-sponsored by American Democracy Collaborative, and Einaudi’s Democratic Threats and Resilience program.

The Seminar on Issues in African Development series examines a broad range of critical concerns in contemporary Africa including food production, human resource development, migration, urbanization, environmental resource management, economic growth, and policy guidance. The weekly presentations are made by invited specialists. Students write weekly memos about the talks. Graduate students (CRP 6770/GDEV 6770) facilitate one seminar question period.

Public Registration