It remains unclear whether the peace plan unveiled in Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will mark a turning point in the war in Gaza.
Filmmakers from the region will likely, however, continue to struggle to get their stories seen.
For both Palestinian and Israeli directors, the barriers to international release have rarely been higher. Films that win major prizes at top festivals or even take home Oscars are still struggling to find companies to put them in theaters, particularly in countries — like the US and Germany — where the debate over Gaza is especially polarized.
No US distributor for Oscar-winning film
When “No Other Land” won the Oscar for best documentary this year, the victory should have ensured worldwide release.
Instead, the film — about the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank — failed to secure a US distributor. The filmmakers, a collective of Israeli and Palestinian activists, eventually self-released.
The US screenings faced protests and political pushback, but the movie played to sold-out houses and earned more than $2 million at the box office.
‘No Other Land’ documents the destruction and displacement of the Palestinian community in Masafer YattaImage: TFS/Capital Pictures/IMAGO
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania has run into similar barriers with “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a dramatization of the true story of a five-year-old girl killed in Gaza by Israeli forces and the desperate attempt by Red Crescent emergency workers to save her. The film drew a 24-minute standing ovation in Venice and won the festival’s Silver Lion. It also has celebrity backing, with Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix signing on as executive producers to promote the movie.
“I have no political power. I’m not an activist. I have one tool that I know, that I master a little bit — cinema,” says Ben Hania. “And at least in making this movie, I wasn’t silenced.”
But as of this writing, no US or German distributor has come on board to release “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
The Gaza docudrama ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the Venice’s second-highest awardImage: Mime Films/Tanit Films/AP Photo/picture alliance
“There aren’t a lot of distributors willing to take risks on these films, because they are political, and they do take a stance,” says Hamza Ali, co-founder of Watermelon Pictures, a US distribution company that has released Gaza-themed documentaries “From Ground Zero” and “The Encampments.”
With bigger companies unwilling to step up, Watermelon has come on board to release two big new Palestinian films: Annemarie Jacir’s historical drama “Palestine 36,” the country’s Oscar submission, and Cherien Dabis’ Sundance hit “All That’s Left of You,” a multi-generational Palestinian drama that is Jordan’s official Oscar contender.
Pressure on Israeli filmmakers — globally and domestically
It isn’t just Palestinian stories getting pushback. At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Barry Avrich’s Israeli documentary “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” about a retired general who set out to rescue his family from a kibbutz after it was raided by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was initially pulled from the lineup before being reinstated following protests. It went on to win the festival’s People’s Choice Award.
Israeli filmmakers are feeling the pressure from both in and outside the country. Early in September, a host of Hollywood insiders, including Oscar-winning actors Olivia Colman, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem and Emma Stone, signed a pledge saying they would boycott working with Israeli film institutions and companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
“It’s become a lot more difficult to get co-productions made, with France, Germany, Canada — countries that we often make films with,” says Assaf Amir, chair of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, describing the struggles of Israeli filmmakers to get financing for new movies. “And it’s become harder to sell Israeli films internationally. We feel the pressure, that companies don’t want the hassle of being associated with an Israeli film.”
At the same time, the Israeli government has targeted the local film industry — which is broadly left-of-center and often sharply critical of Benjamin Netanyahu.
When Shai Carmeli-Pollak’s “The Sea” won Israel’s top film honor, the Ophir Award for best film — making it Israel’s official Oscar entry — Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar announced he would cut all public funding for the awards, calling the win “disgraceful.”
The feature follows a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who risks his life, dodging military checkpoints and the police, to make it to a beach in Tel Aviv and see the sea for the first time.
Zohar, in a statement, said the movie’s negative portrayal of Israeli soldiers was a “slap in the face of Israeli citizens.” Starting next year, the Ophir Awards, Zohar said, will “no longer be funded by taxpayers’ money. Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay from their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers.”
“The Israeli government is taking aim at voices that oppose them, trying to silence those voices,” Amir says. But the chairman of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television insists that the choice of “The Sea” as Israel’s Oscar contender is a reminder that the industry is not giving up. “The fact that the Israeli community chose this film shows there is still hope for dialog. And it’s not just hope, we are still fighting.”
Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier
