Just as Palestinian Basel Adra began narrating the opening scenes of “No Other Land” — the Oscar-winning documentary about Masafer Yatta, his embattled home in the West Bank — six late-coming moviegoers burst through the screening room doors, filling the 25-seat space in the Coolidge Corner Theatre nearly to capacity.
An audience of young and old, singletons and couples, had turned out on a drizzly St. Patrick’s Day evening to watch this film. Some visibly demonstrated their support for Palestine with accessories such as watermelon-slice pins or keffiyehs. The film tells the story of Masafer Yatta, a group of Palestinian villages located in a region that the Israel Defense Forces have declared a training zone.
The narrative centers around Basel, a lawyer by training and activist by necessity. Upset by IDF servicemembers who demolish Palestinian homes with the goal of forcing villagers off their land, he organizes peaceful protests that receive a violent response from the military.