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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. One, named October 8, focused on the “emergence of antisemitism on university grounds, on online platforms and on the streets” after militants killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, the majority being non-combatants. This documentary, executive-produced by a prominent celebrity, was widely released by an independent film company that has also handled a Trump biopic and a Jamal Khashoggi documentary. Promotion for the film took place on mainstream programs, and it eventually earned more than $1.3 million in the United States, a significant sum for a political documentary.

Meanwhile, the second documentary, The Encampments, faced a tougher road. A documentary on student demonstrations against Israel’s retaliatory destruction of the Gaza Strip, focusing in part on protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil – who was later taken into custody by federal authorities for his advocacy – got no support from famous TV hosts. Its limited theatrical run at a NYC cinema led to intimidation attempts, an act of property damage in the cinema entrance and removal of ads online. That it was able to premiere – and earned $80,000 in its debut weekend, a significant win for the specialty box office – is due to Watermelon Pictures, an upstart, Palestinian-American founded film-financing and -distribution company founded by brothers Hamza and Badie Ali to support movies presenting Palestinian views find viewers 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?

These two films evince the distinct environments for Israeli and Palestinian narratives in the United States – the first more unified and often backed by more mainstream institutions, the other fractured and more ad hoc, yet expanding. The second anniversary of the October 7th events throws the contrast into sharper relief – this weekend marks the limited release of “The Road Between Us”, a documentary following a retired Israeli general’s efforts to save his son’s family from Hamas forces on 7 October. A gripping Taken-like tale of endurance, pain and grief that omits the subsequent fatalities of at least 66,000 Palestinians in retaliation, this documentary received support from well-known figures and won the People’s Choice Award for best documentary at a prestigious cinema event. American release rights were rapidly acquired by a consulting firm.

It is challenging to get any hot-button, politically challenging film financed, much less distributed in the United States, particularly during the current political climate. But films featuring Palestinian perspectives, or films questioning the dominant story of a government that has turned the horrors of 7 October into a tool for conflict 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 released,” said a filmmaker, the director of Coexistence, My Ass!, a documentary about an Israeli comedian confronting her upbringing as “the symbolic figure for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” in the wake of the near-complete destruction of Gaza.

After a successful festival circuit, the director, who is Lebanese Canadian, had hopes 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 novel approach of looking at the situation,” the creator said. But agreements fell through; the production group finally chose a self-release strategy beginning soon, handled by the identical firm that orchestrated a previous documentary’s self-release recently. The other movie, a searing documentary by an collaborative group about generational efforts to resist occupation in a small West Bank community, won a Oscar award under difficult circumstances for best documentary; shortly after, local settlers violently attacked a co-director, who was then detained by military personnel reportedly ridiculing the prize. It’s still not available for streaming in the United States but made more than $2.5m at the American theaters (making it the top-earning of the year’s Oscar-nominated docs).

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

A separate movie, All That’s Left of You, a sweeping epic on three generations of a family from Palestine displaced in 1948, also sought distribution after a successful festival appearances, but faced hesitation from distribution companies over the “subject matter”. “We were optimistic that a major distributor would come through,” said the American-Palestinian filmmaker. One conversation with an unnamed company concluded, according to the director, with a rejection, referencing an overloaded schedule. “That is precisely what they told another Palestinian film that debuted recently at a festival. It seems like political cowardice,” 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”. Large streaming platforms have avoided involvement. But one studio recently purchased the international streaming rights to Red Alert, a scripted mini-series partly produced by an Israeli fund, which depicts the 7 October Hamas attacks on the country that, per the logline, “turned southern Israel into a war zone, testing humanity and forging heroism through chaos”. The company leader touted the series as proof of the firm dedication to narrative art through creative quality and accuracy”. And another platform acquired the American rights for “One Day in October”, a scripted series based on eyewitness stories of the attack that will premiere on its two-year mark.

Meanwhile, “I don’t think 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 obstacles. “No one’s really been willing to take a risk on proving that these films could be seen widely.”

“It’s unfortunate that we have not received that equivalent backing,” said the co-founder. “None of our movies has been picked up by a major streaming service.” Still, “the industry is definitely shifting”, he said, pointing to the recent pledge signed by more than 3,900 prominent entertainment figures to avoid collaboration with Israeli film institutions “associated with severe human rights issues” against the Palestinian people, noting: “But it seems, unfortunately, like the streamers are not joining this movement.” (Several celebrities were among those who endorsed a criticism calling the pledge a “document of misinformation”; several cited the country’s Oscar entry of a film titled “The Sea”, a film about a young Palestinian who tries to visit the beach for the first time but is refused access at a checkpoint. Interestingly, the national film awards is under threat of funding cuts after the film received the highest honor.)

An emerging trend of Palestinian-led, challenging films is starting to gain momentum even without major corporate backing – Watermelon agreed to release the aforementioned epic, Jordan’s official submission to the Oscars, which will start its selective cinema run in the coming year; prominent actors came on board as producers. Watermelon also represents the Palestinian entry for the Oscars, multi-generational story “Palestine 36”, and is a producer on another documentary, which received critical acclaim and a major award at Venice; that film, which reconstructs the killing of a five-year-old girl in the region with her actual recordings, will be released across Europe by a sales company, and has {yet to find|not