By Elmer Ploetz
(Image above: Still image from ‘No Other Land’)

“No Other Land” received an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film two months ago, yet its makers have found it almost impossible to get theatrical bookings in the United States.

Such are the times we live in when the Israel-Hamas war has made even talking about such issues a cultural third rail where potential screeners of the documentary risk catching flak that for-profit venues can’t handle. The film got no national distribution deal in the wake of the Oscar, leaving the producers to self-distribute to local theaters and art-houses, even though the film had distribution in at least 20 other countries.

That’s why venues such as Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center are so important. The nonprofit venue embraces its role as a center of free speech and artistic inquiry, and it will be offering two screenings of the film next Saturday (May 10) at 4 and 7 p.m. The 7 p.m. screening is already sold out.

The film was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists (Palestinians Hamdan Ballal and Basel Adra and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor) and documents the forced removals of Palestinans in the West Bank area of Masafer Yatta.

In the wake of receiving the Oscar, Ballal was beaten by Israeli settlers when he returned to Masafar Yatta. Meanwhile the film has been characterized as antisemetic propaganda by its critics, with the mayor of Miami Beach drawing national attention when he tried (unsuccessfully) to withdraw funding for an arts cinema that was leased on city property that planned to show the film.

The Hallwalls presentation of the film will be screened in conjunction with a discussion led by Jewish Voice for Peace and LOLA (Liberation for One, Liberation for All). The event is co-sponsored by the Buffalo International Film Festival, the WNY Peace Center, Veterans For Peace and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Center as well as Hallwalls.

‘Freedom School’ applications sought

Some of the most significant events shaping the cultural and historical life of Buffalo and Western New York were the Buffalo Riots of the late 1960s, specifically the riots in 1967 that have been called the “Buffalo Uprising.” The events of late June 1967 reshaped the city and the region, setting in place events and population movements that are still affecting us today.

Martin Sostre and Geraldine Pointer Robinson were near the heart of all that was happening, with Sostre owning the Afro-Asian Bookstore and Pointer helping him run it. It was an activist bookstore, and they paid for their activism when phony drug charges (according to an informant who later recanted his testimony and explained the set-up of the sting).

Now modern day activists have organized a program called the “Geraldine Pointer and Martin Sostre Freedom School,” which has found funding for students to explore topics related to community empowerment and social justice in Buffalo.

Participants must be between the ages of 16 and 24. Preference will be given to low-income, working class youth from East Side Buffalo, but organizers are accepting applicants who have significant connections to the region. Participants will receive $50 per class for meeting on Saturdays between June 28 and Aug. 2. The program is funded by the Center for Engaged Scholarship.

The classes will be facilitated by Dr. Tiana U. Wilson and James Coughlin. Meeting times are still to be set.

Applications to participate are due by Monday (May 5). The link to apply is HERE.