Above photo: Mahmoud Khalil, featured here in “The Encampments”, was a leading student activist in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment while studying at Columbia.
A new independent film about the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University aims to shift the media narrative regarding the movement for Palestine.
A new documentary chronicling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University will premier at the CPH:DOX Film Festival in Copenhagen on March 25, 2025. “The Encampments,” a film produced by BreakThrough News and Watermelon Pictures, “challenges the dominant media narrative by revealing the true spirit of the encampments—what it felt like to be there, the emotions that fueled the students, and what motivated their drastic action,” said directors Kei Pritsker and Michael T Workman.
The film was produced by nonprofit media organization BreakThrough News, Grammy-award winning musician Macklemore, and Watermelon Pictures, a production company focusing on Palestinian-centered films.
“This is more than a student protest—it’s a generational struggle for justice,” said Macklemore. “Students have always led the charge for justice, from the sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement to the campus protests against South African apartheid. They’ve never been on the wrong side of history. The encampments that started at Columbia are part of that legacy, inspiring millions of people around the world. The film ensures the students in US and Gaza are heard, their actions are remembered, and the fight for Palestinian liberation continues.”
Presenting: THE ENCAMPMENTS, by @watermelonpicturesco, @Macklemore & BreakThrough.
Only in theaters March 28th (NYC) with a nationwide expansion to follow.
Book now: https://t.co/FluCY0Ukrg
The film follows Mahmoud Khalil and other students in their historic stand. pic.twitter.com/GiiH1HpFnB
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) March 21, 2025
The release of “The Encampments” comes shortly after the release of the pro-Israel documentary “October 8,” backed by actress Debra Messing. “October 8” gives a Zionist perspective on the events of October 7 as well as the subsequent movement for Palestine, focusing on the allegations of anti-semitism against said movement.
“The Encampments” aims to provide an alternative view to the mainstream dominance of pro-Zionist narratives, highlighting the student movement for Palestine at Columbia from the perspective of the students themselves. Many of the most prominently featured students in the film, such as recent graduate Mahmoud Khalil, have faced severe state repression due to their activism. Khalil was detained on March 8 by immigration authorities, based on his protest activity, and continues to be imprisoned at the notoriously violent ICE detention center in Jena, Louisiana.
The Trump administration has aimed to make an example out of the students who took a brave stand in solidarity with Palestine at Columbia University, issuing a letter demanding that the university sanction protest in a variety of ways or else lose USD 400 million in federal funding. Columbia has complied with these demands—expelling, firing, suspending, or revoking the degrees of 22 students over alleged involvement in pro-Palestine protest activity. This includes the president of the graduate student union at the university, Grant Miner, also prominently featured in the film.
The film will also be playing at the Angelika Film Center in New York City from March 28-April 2.