2025 Oscar Winner No Other Land Rejected a MUBI Deal: Here’s How to Watch It
Fresh off its 97th Academy Award win for Best Documentary Feature, No Other Land is finally hitting U.S. streaming — and in a surprise twist, its creators are bypassing MUBI to self-release their searing chronicle of Palestinian displacement.
One of last season's most talked-about docs is finally coming to U.S. streaming, but not the way anyone expected. 'No Other Land' — the 97th Oscars winner for Best Documentary Feature — is skipping the usual prestige platform route and self-releasing online. The reason why is very 2025, very complicated, and honestly, kind of bold.
The deal that fell apart
For months, the filmmakers were in talks with the arthouse streamer MUBI. Then they walked away. Why? They found out MUBI is backed by Sequoia Capital, and Sequoia has financial ties to Kela, an Israeli military tech company formed shortly after Israel's offensive in Gaza began. That chain of funding was a nonstarter for the team behind a film about Palestinian displacement.
'In addition to being unethical, it made no sense to us that they would take our film showing Israel's oppression of Palestinians, and then also partner with a company contributing to that oppression'
After that decision hit the industry, pushback on MUBI ramped up: The Guardian covered the controversy, and, per Variety, a group of 63 filmmakers and artists came out against the platform. It's one of those behind-the-scenes distribution flare-ups where the money trail turns into the story.
What the film is
'No Other Land' follows the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, tracing years of demolitions and resistance on the ground. It's directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor — a Palestinian-Israeli collaboration by design, and that collaboration is part of the point. The film already proved it could find an audience the hard way: its theatrical rollout was self-released and still pulled in $2.5 million at the U.S. box office, even as mainstream streamers and traditional buyers steered clear.
How to watch in the U.S.
- Date: Monday, October 20, 2025
- Platforms: Apple TV+, Amazon, Google Play, and YouTube
- Availability: Rent and purchase (video-on-demand)
- Where the money goes: 100% of VOD profits will go directly to Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta
Why this move matters
Walking away from an easy prestige home is not how most Oscar-winning docs roll. But the filmmakers are treating distribution as an extension of the film's argument: who you partner with matters as much as how wide you go. By self-releasing, they keep control over the message and where the money ends up — even if that means doing the unglamorous work themselves.