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This past March, a pair of non-fiction films examining the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 attacks reached theaters within days of each other. The first, named October 8, centered on the “rise in antisemitism” on college campuses, on social media and on the public spaces” after Hamas forces took the lives of over 1,200 individuals in southern Israel, the majority being non-combatants. The film, produced by a prominent celebrity, was widely released by an independent distribution studio that has also handled a Trump biopic and a Jamal Khashoggi documentary. Promotion for the film occurred on mainstream programs, and it eventually grossed more than $1.3 million in the United States, a significant sum for a documentary with political themes.

The other film, The Encampments, encountered greater obstacles. This film examines campus protests against Israel’s retaliatory destruction of Gaza, focusing in part on activist a key figure – who was later detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his activism – got no celebrity morning show promotion. Its specialty release at a NYC cinema led to threats of violence, an incident of vandalism in the cinema entrance and social media censorship. That it was able to premiere – and earned $80,000 in its debut weekend, a notable achievement for the independent film market – is due to Watermelon Pictures, an emerging, Palestinian American-led film funding and release firm started by siblings Hamza and Badie Ali to help films with Palestinian perspectives find viewers they otherwise would not, in a market that has historically overlooked or marginalized such stories.

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The two documentaries demonstrate the distinct environments for Israeli and Palestinian narratives in the United States – the first more unified and often backed by established organizations, the second more fragmented and less organized, yet growing. 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 non-fiction film tracking a former Israeli military leader’s mission to rescue his son’s family from militants on October 7th. A gripping thriller-like story of survival, trauma and mourning that does not mention Israel’s subsequent killing of at least 66,000 people in Gaza in retaliation, The Road Between Us received endorsement from well-known figures and won the audience choice prize for top documentary at a prestigious cinema event. American release rights were quickly snapped up by a consulting firm.

It is challenging to get any hot-button, politically challenging film funded, let alone released in the US, particularly during the current political climate. But movies presenting Palestinian viewpoints, or films questioning the dominant story of a authority that has used the tragedies of 7 October into a weapon of war defending an internationally recognized genocide in Gaza, have found it especially challenging, sometimes impossible, to connect with viewers. “I have never produced a movie on Palestine that’s ever been released,” said a filmmaker, the creator behind a documentary titled “Coexistence, My Ass!”, a film about an comedian from Israel reexamining her past as “the symbolic figure for the peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians” in the wake of the near-complete destruction of Gaza.

After a successful festival circuit, the director, who is Lebanese Canadian, had aspirations for a release agreement for Coexistence, My Ass!. “We thought that there could be a chance that the film could succeed just based on the comedian’s unique perspective – it’s such a unique way of looking at the situation,” the creator said. But deals never worked out; the production group finally chose a independent distribution plan beginning soon, managed by the identical firm that arranged a previous documentary’s self-distribution earlier this year. The other movie, a powerful non-fiction work by an collaborative group about long-standing struggles to fight against occupation in a Palestinian village, won a Oscar award under difficult circumstances for best documentary; shortly after, Israeli settlers severely beat a film-maker, who was then arrested by soldiers allegedly mocking the prize. It’s still not available for online viewing 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).

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Another film, “All That’s Left of You”, a sweeping epic on multiple generations of a family from Palestine displaced in 1948, also sought distribution after a strong festival run, but faced hesitation from distribution companies 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, citing an overloaded schedule. “That’s exactly what they told another Palestinian film that more recently premiered at a film festival. It seems like fear of controversy,” she said.

The truth, according to a founder of Watermelon Pictures, is that “very few distributors exist that are going to support Palestinian films”. Large streaming platforms have steered clear. But a prominent studio recently purchased the global streaming rights to a series called “Red Alert”, a four-part scripted series produced in part by an Israeli production fund, which portrays the October 7th events on the country that, per the logline, “transformed southern Israel into a conflict area, challenging human decency and creating heroes through turmoil”. The company leader touted the series as evidence of the company’s “continued commitment to storytelling through artistic excellence and factual precision”. And a different service acquired the US rights for One Day in October, a dramatized show based on eyewitness stories of the attack that will premiere on its second anniversary.

At the same time, “I don’t think a solitary Palestinian movie has ever gotten mainstream distribution in the United States”, said the director, who has recently established her own release firm, a new company, in response to the roadblocks. “No one’s really been willing to take a risk on proving that these films could be seen widely.”

“It is regrettable that we have not received that equivalent backing,” said the founder. “None of our movies has been acquired by a mainstream streamer.” Still, “the industry is definitely shifting”, he said, pointing to the recent commitment signed by over 3,900 influential industry personalities to avoid collaboration with Israeli cinema organizations “associated with severe human rights issues” against Palestinians, adding: “However, it appears, unfortunately, like the streamers are not following suit.” (Several celebrities were among those who endorsed a criticism calling the pledge a “document of misinformation”; some referenced Israel’s Oscar submission of The Sea, a movie concerning a young Palestinian who attempts to go to the beach 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 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 the aforementioned epic, the official entry from Jordan to the Oscars, which will start its selective cinema run in January; well-known stars came on board as producers. Watermelon also handles Palestine’s official Oscar submission, generational epic Palestine 36, and is a producer on another documentary, which drew rave reviews and a major award at the Venice Film Festival; 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 distribution partner, and has {yet to find|not