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In March of this year, two non-fiction films exploring the aftermath of the October 7th, 2023 attacks reached theaters just days apart. The first, titled October 8, focused on the “emergence of antisemitism on college campuses, on social media and on the public spaces” after militants took the lives of over 1,200 individuals in southern Israel, the majority being non-combatants. This documentary, executive-produced by a well-known actress, was broadly distributed by an independent film company that has also managed a film about Donald Trump and a documentary on Jamal Khashoggi. Promotion for the film took place on mainstream programs, and it eventually grossed more than $1.3 million domestically, a significant sum for a political documentary.

Meanwhile, the second documentary, “The Encampments”, faced a tougher road. A documentary on student demonstrations against the retaliatory actions in of the Gaza Strip, partly centered on activist a key figure – who was later detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his advocacy – got 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 able to premiere – and made $80,000 in its opening weekend, a significant win for the specialty box office – is due to a new distribution company, an emerging, Palestinian American-led film-financing and -distribution company started by brothers Hamza and Badie Ali to support movies presenting Palestinian views reach audiences they typically cannot, in a industry that has otherwise ignored or deprioritized them.

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

The two documentaries evince the different landscapes for Israeli and Palestinian narratives in the United States – the first more unified and often backed by established organizations, the other fractured and more ad hoc, yet expanding. The two-year anniversary of the October 7th events throws the contrast into sharper relief – this weekend marks the limited release of The Road Between Us, a non-fiction film tracking a former Israeli military leader’s mission to rescue his son’s family from militants on 7 October. A compelling Taken-like tale of endurance, pain and grief that does not mention the subsequent fatalities of at least 66,000 Palestinians in retaliation, this documentary received support from celebrities and received the People’s Choice Award for top documentary at a prestigious cinema event. US distribution rights were rapidly acquired by a media company.

It’s difficult to get any hot-button, politically challenging film funded, much less distributed 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 turned the horrors of 7 October into a weapon of war defending an globally condemned humanitarian crisis in the region, have found it especially challenging, sometimes impossible, to connect with viewers. “I’ve never made a film about Palestine that’s ever been released,” said one director, the director of a documentary titled “Coexistence, My Ass!”, a film about an Israeli comedian confronting her upbringing as “the symbolic figure for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” in the wake of the widespread devastation of Gaza.

With an acclaimed festival run, the filmmaker, who is Lebanese Canadian, had aspirations for a release agreement for their documentary. “We believed that there could be a possibility that the film could succeed just based on the subject’s distinct outlook – it’s such a unique way of looking at the issue,” the creator said. But agreements fell through; the production group finally chose a self-release strategy starting later this month, handled by the same company that orchestrated a previous documentary’s self-release recently. The other movie, a powerful non-fiction work by an Israeli-Palestinian collective about generational efforts to resist occupation in a Palestinian village, won a bittersweet Oscar for best documentary; weeks later, Israeli settlers violently attacked a co-director, who was then detained by military personnel allegedly mocking the prize. It remains unavailable for online viewing in the US but made more than $2.5m at the US box office (making it the top-earning of the year’s Oscar-nominated docs).

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

Another film, “All That’s Left of You”, a sweeping epic on three generations of a family from Palestine forced from their home in 1948, also sought distribution after a strong festival run, but ran into concern from distributors over the “subject matter”. “We were optimistic that a major distributor would agree to release it,” said the American-Palestinian filmmaker. One conversation with an undisclosed firm concluded, according to the director, with a pass, referencing an overloaded schedule. “That’s exactly what they told another Palestinian film that debuted recently at a film festival. It all feels like fear of controversy,” she said.

The reality, according to Watermelon co-founder, is that “there are not a lot of distributors that are going to support Palestinian films”. Major streaming companies have steered clear. But a prominent studio recently acquired the global streaming rights to a series called “Red Alert”, a scripted mini-series produced in part by an Israeli production fund, which depicts the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel that, per the logline, “transformed southern Israel into a conflict area, testing humanity and creating heroes through turmoil”. The studio CEO touted the series as proof of the firm dedication to narrative art through creative quality and accuracy”. And a different service secured the American 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 don’t think a solitary Palestinian movie has ever gotten wide release in the United States”, said the director, who has since formed her own distribution company, a new company, in response to the obstacles. “Nobody has truly been prepared to assume the chance on demonstrating that these movies can attract broad audiences.”

“It’s unfortunate that we haven’t had that same support,” said the founder. “Not a single film has been acquired by a mainstream streamer.” Still, “the sector is clearly changing”, he said, referencing the recent commitment signed by more than 3,900 prominent entertainment figures to not work with Israeli cinema organizations “implicated in genocide and apartheid” against the Palestinian people, noting: “However, it appears, sadly, like the streaming platforms are not joining this movement.” (Several celebrities were among those who signed a rebuke calling the pledge a “source of falsehoods”; several cited the country’s Oscar entry of a film titled “The Sea”, a film about a Palestinian boy who tries to visit the seaside for the first occasion but is refused access at a security post. Interestingly, Israel’s version of the Oscars is under threat of funding cuts after the film received the highest honor.)

An emerging trend of films led by Palestinians and addressing difficult topics is finally beginning to crest even without major corporate backing – the distribution company agreed to release the aforementioned epic, the official entry from Jordan to the Oscars, which will begin its limited theatrical release in the coming year; prominent actors joined as executive producers. Watermelon also represents the Palestinian entry for the Oscars, multi-generational story Palestine 36, and is executive producer on another documentary, which received critical acclaim and a major award at the Venice Film Festival; this movie, which reconstructs the killing of a young child in the region with her real voice, will be released across Europe by a sales company, and has {yet to find|not