"Not Other Land" has become the second most successful documentary in the United States during 2025

The Academy Award-winning documentary directed by Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, and Hamdan Ballal surpassed the 2 million dollar mark this past weekend, and it is still screening in over 100 theaters in the United States. 

Many have pointed out that Not Other Land lacks traditional distribution, a fact that, in a way, romanticizes its political status of becoming an act of dissidence. However, this claim needs to be contextualized. Not Other Land was, indeed, not acquired by any conventional distribution company in the United States, but the creators behind the film used the alternative distribution channels and strategies existing in our industry for a while. First, the movie's media and award strategy has been executed by Cinetic Media, one of the most prominent and well-established companies in the States, working with independent and international filmmakers. The firm not only has a large muscle in financing and legal services for talent but also has some of the most brilliant minds working in awards and theatrical release campaigns with social and political dimensions. Along with Cinetic Media, the film used the booking services by Michael Tuckman Media, which not only provide a traditional theatrical window, where the film has already grossed $2M, but a considerably lucrative non-theatrical window that includes academic screenings and presentations in film societies around the country. 

Moreover, Not Other Land has been a significant title for international markets since the movie premiered and won the Berlinale Documentary section a year ago. The Austrian sales agency Autlook Filmsales sold the movie exploitation right in 24 territories, where the film premiered in theaters and online, grossing over $1M just in theaters plus relevant streaming live in many territories where the film was able to premiere on independent platforms such as Filmin in Spain. 

In many ways, the distribution form behind Not Other Land appears to speak directly about something the film depicts: the use and impact of traditional media to highlight a social crisis that struggles to exist in mass media. While the creators of the film use large social media platforms to spread their information, the movie needs to find an alternative path to succeed within the traditional theatrical landscape. 

This alternative path has been a reality for many other movies in the past and allows us to reflect about a complex independent film scene that fall outside the commercial profitability of mainstream cineman. That includes political and international documentaries such as For Sama, A Thousands Cuts, Dolores, The Black Panthers, We Come As Friends, and Flee. In the United States, these adventures exist within an ecosystem that persists, combining strategies of servicing, non-profit efforts, and donations to sustain an operating system that in other countries exists with a public system able to sustain them with financial aid and media policies. In this sense, the success of Not Other Land lies not only in its cinematic form but in how it signals that existing and achieving audiences is also an act of resistance and resilience for many filmmakers.