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In March of this year, two non-fiction films examining the aftermath of the October 7th, 2023 events reached theaters within days of each other. The first, named October 8, focused on the “emergence of antisemitism on college campuses, on online platforms and on the public spaces” after militants took the lives of over 1,200 individuals in southern Israel, the majority being non-combatants. The film, executive-produced by a prominent celebrity, was widely released by an independent film company that has also managed a Trump biopic and a documentary on Jamal Khashoggi. Marketing for the film occurred on popular TV shows, and it ultimately grossed more than $1.3m in the United States, a high total for a political documentary.

Meanwhile, the second documentary, The Encampments, encountered greater obstacles. A documentary on campus protests against the retaliatory actions in of the Gaza Strip, focusing in part on protest organizer a key figure – who was later detained by federal authorities for his advocacy – got no celebrity morning show promotion. Its limited theatrical run at a New York theater led to threats of violence, an incident of vandalism in the cinema entrance and removal of ads online. That it was released at all – and made $80,000 in its opening weekend, a notable achievement for the independent film market – is due to a new distribution company, an upstart, Palestinian-American founded film-financing and -distribution company started by siblings Hamza and Badie Ali to support movies presenting Palestinian views reach audiences they typically cannot, in a industry that has historically overlooked or marginalized such stories.

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

The two documentaries evince the distinct environments for Israeli and Palestinian narratives in the United States – the first more unified and frequently supported by more mainstream institutions, the other fractured and more ad hoc, yet growing. The two-year anniversary of the 7 October attacks throws the contrast into sharper relief – recently saw the limited release of “The Road Between Us”, a documentary following a former Israeli military leader’s mission to rescue his family members from militants on 7 October. A gripping thriller-like story of survival, trauma and mourning that omits Israel’s subsequent killing of at least 66,000 people in Gaza in response, this documentary received endorsement from celebrities and won the audience choice prize for best documentary at a prestigious cinema event. US distribution rights were rapidly acquired by a media company.

It is challenging to get any hot-button, politically challenging film financed, much less distributed in the US, particularly during the current political climate. But movies presenting Palestinian viewpoints, or films questioning the dominant story of a government that has used the tragedies of 7 October into a tool for conflict justifying an globally condemned humanitarian crisis in the region, have found it particularly difficult, occasionally unfeasible, to reach audiences. “I’ve never made a movie on Palestine that’s ever been released,” said one director, the director of Coexistence, My Ass!, a film about an comedian from Israel reexamining her past as “the symbolic figure for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” in the wake of the near-complete destruction of the territory.

After a successful festival circuit, the filmmaker, who is Lebanese Canadian, had aspirations for a distribution deal for Coexistence, My Ass!. “We believed that there could be a chance that the film could succeed just based on the subject’s unique perspective – it’s such a unique way of examining the situation,” the creator said. But deals never worked out; the team ultimately opted for a self-release strategy beginning soon, handled by the identical firm that arranged another film’s self-distribution recently. The other movie, a searing documentary by an Israeli-Palestinian collective about long-standing struggles to resist occupation in a Palestinian village, won a Oscar award under difficult circumstances for outstanding documentary; shortly after, Israeli settlers violently attacked a film-maker, who was then detained by military personnel reportedly ridiculing the award. It’s still not available for streaming in the US but made more than $2.5m at the American theaters (making it the highest grossing of the Oscar-nominated documentaries this year).

‘We must act’: The firm distributing Palestinian films others avoid

Another film, “All That’s Left of You”, a sweeping epic on three generations of a Palestinian family forced from their home in 1948, also looked for a distributor after a strong festival run, but ran into concern from distributors over the “content theme”. “We had high hopes that one mainstream distributor would agree to release it,” said the American-Palestinian filmmaker. One conversation with an undisclosed firm ended, according to the director, with a rejection, referencing an overloaded schedule. “That’s exactly what they said to another Palestinian movie that debuted recently at a festival. It seems like fear of controversy,” she said.

The reality, according to a founder of Watermelon Pictures, is that “there are not a lot of distributors that are going to back Palestinian cinema”. Large streaming platforms have steered clear. But a prominent studio recently acquired the international streaming rights to Red Alert, a scripted mini-series partly produced by an Israeli fund, which portrays the 7 October Hamas attacks on the country that, per the logline, “turned southern Israel into a war zone, challenging human decency and creating heroes through chaos”. The company leader promoted the show as evidence of the firm dedication to narrative art through artistic excellence and factual precision”. And a different service acquired the US rights for “One Day in October”, a scripted series based on eyewitness stories of the attack that will debut on its second anniversary.

At the same time, “I believe a solitary Palestinian movie has ever gotten mainstream distribution in the US”, said the director, who has recently established her own release firm, a new company, in wake of the roadblocks. “No one’s really been willing to take a risk on demonstrating that these movies can attract broad audiences.”

“It’s unfortunate that we haven’t had that equivalent backing,” said the founder. “Not a single film has been acquired by a mainstream streamer.” Still, “the industry is definitely shifting”, he said, referencing the recent commitment signed by more than 3,900 prominent entertainment figures to avoid collaboration with Israeli film institutions “implicated in genocide and apartheid” against the Palestinian people, adding: “But it seems, unfortunately, like the streamers are not following suit.” (Several celebrities were among those who endorsed a criticism calling the pledge a “source of falsehoods”; some referenced the country’s Oscar entry of a film titled “The Sea”, a film about a young Palestinian who attempts to go to the seaside for the first occasion but is refused access at a checkpoint. Interestingly, Israel’s version of the Oscars is under threat of funding cuts after The Sea won the top prize.)

An emerging trend of films led by Palestinians and addressing difficult topics is finally beginning to crest even without significant corporate support – the distribution company agreed to release the aforementioned epic, the official entry from Jordan to the Academy Awards, which will start its selective cinema run in the coming year; prominent actors came on board as producers. Watermelon also handles Palestine’s official Oscar submission, multi-generational story Palestine 36, and is a producer on another documentary, which drew rave reviews and a significant prize at the Venice Film Festival; this movie, which reconstructs the killing of a five-year-old girl in the region with her actual recordings, will be distributed in Europe by a sales company, and has {yet to find|not