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In March of this year, a pair of non-fiction films examining the aftermath of the October 7th, 2023 events reached theaters within days of each other. The first, titled “October 8”, focused on the “rise in antisemitism” on college campuses, on online platforms and on the streets” after Hamas forces killed more than 1,200 people in Israel’s southern region, most of them civilians. This documentary, produced by a prominent celebrity, was widely released by an independent film company that has also managed a film about Donald Trump and a Jamal Khashoggi documentary. Promotion for the film occurred on popular TV shows, and it ultimately earned more than $1.3 million domestically, a high total for a documentary with political themes.

The other film, “The Encampments”, encountered greater obstacles. A documentary on student demonstrations against the retaliatory actions in of Gaza, focusing in part on activist Mahmoud Khalil – who was later detained by federal authorities for his activism – received no celebrity morning show promotion. Its limited theatrical run at a NYC cinema led to threats of violence, an incident of vandalism in the theater’s lobby and social media censorship. That it was released at all – and earned $80,000 in its debut weekend, a significant win for the specialty box office – is thanks to a new distribution company, an emerging, Palestinian-American founded film-financing and -distribution company started by siblings Hamza and Badie Ali to help films with Palestinian perspectives reach audiences they typically cannot, in a market that has historically overlooked or marginalized such stories.

‘A chilling effect’: is Hollywood too scared to touch hot-button documentaries?

These two films demonstrate the distinct environments for Israeli and Palestinian narratives in the US – one concentrated and often backed by more mainstream institutions, the other fractured and more ad hoc, yet expanding. The two-year anniversary of the 7 October attacks throws the contrast into sharper relief – recently saw the selective premiere of The Road Between Us, a documentary tracking a retired Israeli general’s efforts to save his family members from Hamas forces on 7 October. A gripping thriller-like story of survival, trauma and mourning that does not mention Israel’s subsequent killing of at least 66,000 Palestinians in retaliation, this documentary received endorsement from celebrities and won the People’s Choice Award for top documentary at a major film festival. American release rights were rapidly acquired by a media company.

It is challenging to get any controversial, politically charged movie financed, let alone released in the United States, particularly during the second Trump administration. But films featuring Palestinian perspectives, or films questioning the dominant story of a government that has used the tragedies of October 7th into a weapon of war justifying an internationally recognized genocide in Gaza, have found it particularly difficult, sometimes impossible, to reach audiences. “I’ve never made a film about Palestine that’s ever been distributed,” said one director, the creator behind a documentary titled “Coexistence, My Ass!”, a film about an comedian from Israel confronting her upbringing as “the symbolic figure for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” in the wake of the near-complete destruction of Gaza.

With an acclaimed festival run, the filmmaker, who is Lebanese Canadian, had aspirations for a distribution deal for their documentary. “We believed that there could be a chance that Coexistence could break through just based on the subject’s distinct outlook – it’s such a unique way of examining the situation,” the creator said. But deals never worked out; the production group ultimately opted for a independent distribution plan beginning soon, handled by the identical firm that orchestrated another film’s self-release earlier this year. The other movie, a powerful non-fiction work by an Israeli-Palestinian collective about long-standing struggles to resist occupation in a small West Bank community, won a bittersweet Oscar for best documentary; weeks later, Israeli settlers violently attacked a co-director, who was then detained by soldiers reportedly ridiculing the award. It’s still not available for streaming in the US but earned over $2.5 million at the US box office (making it the top-earning of the Oscar-nominated documentaries this year).

‘We need to do something’: the company releasing Palestinian films no one else will

A separate movie, All That’s Left of You, a grand narrative on multiple generations of a Palestinian family displaced in 1948, also looked for a distributor after a strong festival run, but ran into concern from distribution companies over the “content theme”. “We were optimistic that a major distributor would agree to release it,” said the American-Palestinian filmmaker. A discussion with an undisclosed firm ended, according to the director, with a rejection, referencing too many films. “That is precisely what they said to another Palestinian movie that debuted recently at a festival. It all feels like political cowardice,” she said.

The reality, according to a founder of Watermelon Pictures, is that “there are not a lot of distributors that are going to support Palestinian films”. Large streaming platforms have avoided involvement. But a prominent studio recently acquired the global streaming rights to Red Alert, a scripted mini-series partly produced by an Israeli fund, which portrays the October 7th events on the country that, per the logline, “transformed southern Israel into a conflict area, testing humanity and creating heroes through chaos”. The company leader promoted the show as proof of the firm dedication to storytelling through creative quality and accuracy”. And a different service acquired the US rights for One Day in October, a scripted series based on first-hand accounts of the incident that will debut on its two-year mark.

Meanwhile, “I believe a single Palestinian film has ever gotten wide release in the United States”, said the filmmaker, who has recently established her own release firm, Visibility Films, in wake of the roadblocks. “Nobody has truly been prepared to take a risk on proving that these films could be seen widely.”

“It is regrettable that we haven’t had that equivalent backing,” said the founder. “Not a single film has been picked up by a major streaming service.” Still, “the industry is definitely shifting”, he said, pointing to the recent commitment signed by over 3,900 prominent entertainment figures to avoid collaboration with Israeli film institutions “implicated in genocide and apartheid” against Palestinians, adding: “However, it appears, unfortunately, like the streamers are not following suit.” (Several celebrities were among those who signed a rebuke labeling the commitment a “source of falsehoods”; several cited Israel’s Oscar submission of a film titled “The Sea”, a film about a young Palestinian who attempts to go to the beach for the first time but is denied entry at a checkpoint. Notably, Israel’s version of the Oscars is facing government defunding after the film received the highest honor.)

A new wave of films led by Palestinians and addressing difficult topics is finally beginning to crest even without major corporate backing – the distribution company signed on to distribute All That’s Left of You, the official entry from Jordan to the Oscars, which will begin its limited theatrical release in January; prominent actors joined as executive producers. Watermelon also represents the Palestinian entry for the Oscars, generational epic Palestine 36, and is a producer on The Voice of Hind Rajab, which received critical acclaim and a major award at the Venice Film Festival; this movie, which recreates the death of a five-year-old girl in Gaza with her real voice, will be distributed in Europe by a distribution partner, and has {yet to find|not