From the river to the screen: Palestine’s rebel filmmakers

Collage by Easton Clark, Photo Editor

I haven’t seen an entire movie theater audience weep quite like they did when I saw “The Voice of Hind Rajab” this past January. 

The tense 90-minute film recounts the true story of Red Crescent volunteers on an emergency call with 5-year-old Hind Rajab pleading for rescue from the approaching Israeli forces. Utilizing real audio from Hind Rajab’s phone call, who was ultimately killed with her family by Israeli soldiers, I distinctly remember consoling my own tears during the end credits while the entire auditorium seemed similarly flooded by the crushing reality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. 

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, many Americans were shocked by the escalation of events in the Israeli-Palestinian war. For many, this was a history kept from textbooks and general conversation, but as social media laid bare the genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank funded by our government, the conflict was put at the center of American politics. 

Over the past year, these realities have spurred changes in American attitudes as recent polls have found sympathies lie more with Palestine than Israel for the first time in history, especially among younger populations. At the center of this shift of empathy with Palestinians is a slew of media amplifying stories from the occupied region. 

Films such as “No Other Land,” which won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary, are putting Palestinian voices front and center. Even films releasing more under the radar, such as “All That’s Left of You” or “Palestine 36,” demonstrate how media can transgress the oppressive confines and contexts through which it is produced to create real change.

“How do you make films when bodies cannot even move freely in and out of the country and equipment can't get in and out of the country?” said professor Sa’ed Atshan. 

Atshan is the department chair of peace and conflict studies at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. As a Palestinian, his work, such as “Reel Gender: Palestinian and Israeli Cinema” and “Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique,” has centered on an intersectional approach to cultures in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The resources for filmmaking are very limited, and as a result, the Palestinian filmmakers in Palestine who are able to produce films within the country are some of the most courageous, resilient, creative, strong, visionary and tenacious people on the planet,” said Atshan. “Despite unbelievable odds, they're producing art, and I think that their work deserves to be celebrated and to be recognized for its ingenuity amid these impossible conditions.”

In conditions directly suppressing the ability of Palestinians to speak out, those who pursue filmmaking often risk their lives to tell Palestinian stories. “Palestine 36,” a war epic recounting the 1936-1939 Arab revolt, is the only narrative feature film shot in Palestine over the last two years. For other films, such as “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” co-productions with other countries offer opportunities to amplify Palestinian voices.

“There are diasporic Palestinian filmmakers who are producing Palestine-related films, and they are shooting those films outside of the country,” said Atshan. “Sometimes, the scenes are supposed to connote actual events that happen within the country, but they'll use sets in neighboring countries in order to produce the material.”

Through all of this, Palestinian stories that are otherwise thousands of miles away become close and intimate through a touching sentimentality. This sense of proximity is also reflected in Israeli cinema over the past few years grappling with the conflict. As Atshan explained, the Israeli film industry has become a similarly complex reflection of a diversity of experiences in the region.

“Israeli films are not monolithic; there's a real diversity and heterogeneity,” Atshan said. “Some of them are tied to Israeli state nationalist projects, some of them challenge Israeli state projects. I believe that … in the realm of Israel-Palestine broadly, you cannot address the Palestinian subject without addressing the Israeli subject. The ghost or the specter of the Israeli subject is always there … Our societies are now, after generations and decades, inextricably linked.”

Palestinian cinema also gains relevance through the centering of women’s voices. As professor Atshan explained, roughly half of the films produced in Palestine are directed by women — a far cry from the continued marginalization of women filmmakers in Hollywood. While gender inequities and queer oppression in Palestine certainly exist, these inequalities have been leveraged as justifications for Israel’s violence through “pinkwashing” in media. The struggles for Palestinian sovereignty and social rights unquestionably go hand in hand.

“As more Palestinian films have been produced and as more women have produced these films, gender and sexuality have increasingly been a salient theme that's explored,” said Atshan. “This has led to addressing taboos such as patriarchy or homophobia, and given voice to LGBTQ and feminist subjects within Palestinian society. Representing them on screen gives them increased visibility, but also increases the understanding of the heterogeneity of women's and queer experiences across Palestinian society across generations.”

In Hollywood, while some Palestinian films have made waves, it’s difficult for most Western filmmakers to directly approach the topic. As Hollywood films rely on a financial model, studios are wary of approaching a topic still regarded as “controversial” throughout much of the country. 

Rather, many films have taken up the role of allegorically representing the conflict. Whether it’s the fictional Boravian conflict in 2025’s “Superman” or anti-colonial struggles in “Andor,” pro-Palestinian media is perhaps more prevalent than we usually consider.

“Artists who want to be overtly political, overtly naming and representing Palestine, that's great. But artists who want to allude to or address the Palestinian issue without naming it explicitly … that's also beautiful, powerful and a legitimate form of artistic expression,” said Atshan. “Art not only includes the cultural production, the work that is intended by the artists and those who engage in the artistic production, but a lot of it also depends on how it's interpreted or received by people consuming the art or engaging with the art.”

That being said, these institutions of censorship should not be ignored. While many of these films have been made available, issues still persist, such as when “No Other Land” struggled to find a distributor leading up to the Oscars. While we rally behind the promises of free speech, inherently pro-colonialist corporate models have historically suppressed the voices of the colonized subject. Yet, with the odds stacked against them, these films are still being made and have still found an audience to leave a significant impact.

“People still persist in speaking up and speaking truth to power,” said Atshan. “You risk being character-assassinated, you risk being smeared, you risk receiving false accusations or being doxed. You risk your livelihood, but there are so many courageous people who speak nonetheless.”