No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary about activists in the West Bank has secured a pair of nominations at the prestigious Grierson British Documentary Awards, with the BBC otherwise dominating the longlist.
No Other Land, which aired on Channel 4 in the UK but has struggled with U.S. distribution, will face Black Box Diaries, Netflix‘s The Remarkable Life of Ibelin and Nat Geo’s Sugarcane in the Best Single Documentary – International category, while it has also received a nod for Best Cinema Documentary
No Other Land follows a journalist and locals in a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank, which had been resisting forced displacement after an Israeli “firing zone” was declared on their land. The highly emotional documentary landed rave reviews but its success has not made life any easier for some of its creative team. In March, Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian co-directors, was reported to have been attacked by a mob of Israeli settlers close to his West Bank village and then arrested by soldiers.
No Other Land is one of four docs to have been nominated twice this year at the Griersons and joins another doc about Palestine, the BBC’s Life and Death in Gaza, on the longlist for the awards that take place on November 18 in London.
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The Griersons have had a tricky time navigating the conflict since October 7. Last year, Asif Kapadia was removed as a patron of the Grierson Trust following a backlash over the director sharing what it called “antisemitic” social media posts. This move led to a counter-backlash and boycott from senior Muslim figures who felt Kapadia had been unfairly treated. The year prior, an unnamed individual was barred from attending Grierson events for a decade following an antisemitic incident.
The BBC dominates the nominations this year with 19, way ahead of Channel 4 in second with eight, while the streamers lag behind. Netflix’s noms are for The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Apollo 13: Survival and Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey.
Elsewhere, the Grierson Trust is this year celebrating 35 female directors landing noms, almost level with men on 42. A lack of female representation in documentary directing has been in the spotlight for years and a campaign group, We Are Doc Women, was launched earlier this decade. Many networks and indies have since signed a pledge committing to 50% women directors across their output.
Grierson Trust Chair Lorraine Heggessey said she is “especially pleased to see the growing number of female directors recognised, given how long this has been a challenge for our industry.”
“The rise in documentaries directed by women reflects the efforts of commissioners, production companies and others who are working to redress the balance and support female creative talent,” she added. “These nominations also highlight the continuing strength and appeal of observational documentaries, at a time when many in the industry have been questioning their role and relevance within an evolving television landscape.”