Must Watch Documentaries
Sometimes the truth hurts but we should never close our eyes or our hearts to it.
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- DirectorHernán ZinStarsWalaa EltitiYazeed FarujaFilmed shortly after the 2014 Gaza war, this documentary examines how violence has transformed the lives of 10 Palestinian children.
- DirectorGarry KeaneAndrew McConnellStarsDana AbedA beautiful portrait of everyday Gazan citizens, leading meaningful lives beyond the rubble of perennial conflict.
- DirectorAbby MartinFilmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features exclusive footage of demonstrations where 200 unarmed civilians have been killed by Israeli snipers since March 30, 2018.
- DirectorAnna BaltzerStarsAnna BaltzerAnna Baltzer, the Jewish-American granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, provides a straightforward account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while chronicling the almost unbearable living conditions of Palestinians under the Occupation.
- DirectorMahdi FleifelStarsMahdi FleifelAn intimate, and often humorous, portrait of three generations of exile in the refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh, in southern Lebanon. Based on a wealth of personal recordings, family archives, and historical footage, the film is a sensitive, and illuminating study of belonging, friendship, and family in the lives of those for whom dispossession is the norm, and yearning their daily lives.
- DirectorDarin J. SallamStarsKaram TaherAshraf BarhomAli SulimanA 14-year-old girl in 1948 Palestine watches from a locked pantry as catastrophe consumes her home.
- DirectorAmeen NayfehStarsAli SulimanAnna UnterbergerMotaz MalheesA Palestinian father trapped on the other side of the separation wall is trying to reach the hospital for his son.
- DirectorAlon SchwarzStarsAvigdor FeldmanYoav GelberTeddy KatzIn the war of 1948 hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated. Israelis call it 'The War of Independence. Palestinians call it 'Nakba"'. The film examines one village- Tantura and why "Nakba" is taboo in Israeli society.
- DirectorEmad BurnatGuy DavidiStarsEmad BurnatSoraya BurnatMohammed BurnatA documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.
- DirectorMai MasriStarsMaisa Abd ElhadiNadira OmranRakeen SaadA young Palestinian schoolteacher gives birth to her son in an Israeli prison where she fights to protect him, survive and maintain hope.
- DirectorAnnemarie JacirStarsTarek Abu AssabAshraf Abu MochReem Abu-SbaihOccupied Palestine: A serene landscape now pockmarked by military checkpoints. When a Palestinian film crew decides to avert a closed checkpoint by taking a remote side road, the political landscape unravels, and the passengers are slowly taken apart by the mundane brutality of military occupation. Both a visual poem and a narrative about the fragmentation of a people, "like twenty impossibles", also questions the politics of filmmaking and the opportunism of artists.
- DirectorMai MasriFarah and Issa, two streetwise children living in Beirut's Palestinian Shatila refugee camp, use their imaginations and creativity to come to terms with the realities of growing up in a refugee camp that has survived massacre, siege, and starvation.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardAnne-Marie MiévilleStarsJean-Luc GodardThe movie incorporates footage of fedayeens taken for an aborted pro-Palestinian film which had been abandoned when subjects were killed. Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the footage it shows of the fedayeens and of a French family.
- DirectorMax BlumenthalStarsJohn KerryBenjamin NetanyahuAbu ObaidaIn Killing Gaza, independent journalists Max Blumenthal and Dan Cohen documented Israel's 2014 war on Gaza. Yet this film is much more than a documentary about Palestinian resilience and suffering. It is a chilling visual document of war crimes committed by the Israeli military, featuring direct testimony and evidence from the survivors.
- DirectorDanniel DannielJuliano Mer-KhamisStarsArna Mer KhamisJuliano Mer-KhamisJuliano Mer Khamis' documentary on his mother, Arna, an activist against the Israeli occupation who founded an alternative education system for Palestinian children.
- DirectorFarah NabulsiStarsSaleh BakriMaryam KanjMariam BashaOn his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping?
- DirectorHernán ZinStarsTia AlkerdiJavier CastellSince civil war started in Syria in 2011, an estimated 9 million Syrians have fled their homes, half of them children. These children have fled unimaginable horror: the indiscriminate bombings of Bachar Al Assad's government, and ISIS' raping and beheading, only to find themselves trapped in makeshift camps or closed borders. We witness the journey of these refugees to the promised land of Europe.
- DirectorPorter Speakman Jr.StarsEvan AlbertynGary BurgeRon DartThe minute ur pastor justifies apartheid, violence n invasion by wrongly quoting a holy book and causes u to become prejudiced against other people or group, u lose the heart of God.
- DirectorB.Z. GoldbergJustine ShapiroCarlos BoladoStarsMoishe Bar AmB.Z. GoldbergShlomo GreenSeveral Jewish and Palestinian children are followed for three years and put in touch with each other, in this alternative look at the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. The three filmmakers followed a group of seven local children between 1995 and 1998. They all have a totally different background. These seven children tell their own story about growing up in Jerusalem. Through this portrait of their generation, we see how deep rooted and almost insoluble the problems of the Middle East have become. When the protagonists speak out in an epilogue a couple of years later, it becomes apparent that all have lost their childlike innocence.
- DirectorVibeke LøkkebergIn a rough style, by way of unique footage, the brutal consequences of modern wars are exposed. The film also depicts the ability of women and children to handle their everyday life after a dramatic war experience. Many of them live in tents or in ruins without walls or roofs. They are all in need of money, food, water and electricity. Others have lost family members, or are left with seriously injured children. Can war solve conflicts or create peace? The film follows three children through the war and the period after the ceasefire.
- DirectorTony StarkStarsJohn PilgerFatima Abed-RaboAmjad Abu LabanA documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has lasted for more than 50 years. Contains some interviews with the children in this conflict.
- DirectorKaty ChevignyRoss KauffmanStarsAnna NeistatOle SolvangPeter BouckaertWhen atrocities are committed in countries held hostage by ruthless dictators, Human Rights Watch sends in the E-Team (Emergencies Team), a collection of fiercely intelligent individuals hired to document war crimes and report them to the rest of the world. Within this volatile climate, filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny take us to the frontline in Syria and Libya, where shrapnel, bullet holes, and unmarked graves provide mounting evidence of coordinated attacks conducted by Bashar al-Assad and the now-deceased Muammar Gaddafi. The crimes are rampant, random, and often undocumented, making E-Team's effort to get information out of the country and into the hands of media outlets and criminal courts all the more necessary.
- DirectorJames MillerStarsJames MillerSaira ShahThe harrowing documentary that portrays the horror of the Israeli conflict and the resulting death of its director, James Miller.
- DirectorLoretta AlperJeremy EarpStarsPhyllis BennisMax BlumenthalNoam ChomskyIsrael's ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world - except the United States. The Occupation of the American Mind takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S. Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. media culture, the film explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel's favor. From the U.S.-based public relations campaigns that emerged in the 1980s to today, the film provides a sweeping analysis of Israel's decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and tax dollars of the American people in the face of widening international condemnation of its increasingly right-wing policies. Featuring Amira Hass, M.J. Rosenberg, Stephen M. Walt, Noam Chomsky, Rula Jebreal, Henry Siegman, Rashid Khalidi, Rami Khouri, Yousef Munayyer, Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Norman Solomon, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Hart and Sut Jhally.
- DirectorAbdallah OmeishSufyan OmeishStarsJames AkinsArik AschermanBishop Barltlett Jr.A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. political involvement.
- DirectorMohammad BakriDocumentary about the 2002 deadly confrontations between armed Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
- CreatorAbby MartinStarsAbby MartinNoam ChomskyRalph NaderAn independent documentary & interview series hosted by Abby Martin - reporting on war & inequality from the heart of Empire
- DirectorJulia BachaFollows a Palestinian leader who unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter jumps into the fray.
- DirectorTerje CarlssonStarsYehuda ShaulRonny PerlmanArik AschermanTo many of their fellow Israelis, they are traitors. They are attacked, arrested and demonized. Yet Israelis like Yehuda Shaul, leader of 'Breaking the Silence' and Jonathan Pollack from 'Anarchists Against the Wall' continue to struggle for a more peaceful Middle East. They believe that they can save their state by putting an end to the military occupation. But the Israeli peace movement has lost momentum in recent years. There is widespread apathy in Israel against ending the Occupation, especially after the withdrawal from Gaza. 'Israel vs Israel' takes a fresh look at one of the leading tensions in Israeli society.
- DirectorJulia BachaStarsNaila AyeshZahira KamalNaima Al-SheikhWhen a nation-wide uprising breaks out in 1987, a woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in a movement that forces the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time. Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh whose story weaves through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history -- the First Intifada in the late 1980s.
- DirectorAndy TrimlettAhlam MuhtasebThrough riveting and moving personal recollections of both Palestinians and Israelis, 1948: Creation and Catastrophe reveals the shocking events of the most pivotal year in the most controversial conflict in the world.
- DirectorJulia BachaWhen a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona and a speech therapist in Texas are told they must choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, they launch legal battles.
- DirectorJulia BachaRebekah WingertStarsSara BenningaTerry BenningaZvi BenningaMohammed El Kurd is a Palestinian teenager growing up in the heart of East Jerusalem. When Mohammed's family is forced to give up a part of their home to Israeli settlers, local residents begin peaceful protests and in a surprising turn, are quickly joined by scores of Israeli supporters. Mohammed comes of age in the face of unrelenting tension with his neighbors and unexpected cooperation with Israeli allies in his backyard.
- DirectorRonit AvniJulia BachaStarsAli Abu AwwadSami Al JundiRobi Damelin"Encounter Point" moves beyond sensational and canned images to tell the story of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who sacrifice their safety, public standing and homes in order to press for a grassroots movement for nonviolence and peace.
- DirectorRa'anan AlexandrowiczCan justice truly be served in the occupied territories given the current system of law administered by Israel for Palestinians?
- DirectorStephen ApkonAndrew YoungStarsChen AlonJamil QassasAvner WishnitzerIn a world torn by conflict -in a place where the idea of peace has been abandoned-an energy of determined optimism emerges. When someone is willing to disturb the status quo and stand for the dream of a free and secure world, who will stand with them? DISTURBING THE PEACE is a story of the human potential unleashed when we stop participating in a story that no longer serves us and, with the power of our convictions, take action to create new possibilities. DISTURBING THE PEACE follows former enemy combatants - Israeli soldiers from elite units and Palestinian fighters, many of whom served years in prison - who have joined together to challenge the status quo and say "enough." The film reveals their transformational journeys from soldiers committed to armed battle to nonviolent peace activists, leading to the creation of Combatants for Peace. While based in the Middle East, DISTURBING THE PEACE evokes universal themes relevant to us all and inspires us to become active participants in the creation of our world.
- DirectorOrlando von EinsiedelStarsDana AbedTia AlkerdiKhalid FarahAs daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.
- DirectorHernán ZinStarsHernán ZinDavid BeriainMaysun Abu-Khdeir"Morir para contar" tells the stories of Spanish war correspondant dead while doing their work.
- DirectorMariam DwedarHirbawi Textiles is the last-remaining factory in Palestine that produces the iconic Palestinian scarf known as the Kuffiyeh.
- DirectorZain UllahStarsZain UllahStory line based in Palestine, interviews with residents, ex war veterans and victims of the Palestinian war. Documentary about the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
- StarsTaim HasanJuliette AwwadBasel KhayyatAbu Ahmad and his family are forced to leave the city of Haifa to find a safe shelter during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. However, they face tragic conditions and struggle with displacement.
- DirectorEran RiklisStarsHiam AbbassRona Lipaz-MichaelAli SulimanThe story of a Palestinian widow who must defend her lemontree field when a new Israeli Defense Minister moves next to her and threatens to have her lemon grove torn down.
- DirectorAbdallah Al-KhatibStarsAbdallah Al-KhatibAfter the Syrian Revolution, Al-Assad's regime besieges the district of Yarmouk, largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world. Yarmouk is cut off. The director records the daily deprivations while celebrating the people's courage.
- DirectorIman ZawahryStarsWaseem AlzerJannah EbeidZaydaan FarookiAs Saamidah, a young Palestinian-American girl, anxiously starts her first day of school, she finds her identity in question when faced with a world map that doesn't include her homeland.
- DirectorZain UllahStarsZain UllahStory line based in Palestine, interviews with residents, ex war veterans and victims of the Palestinian war. Documentary about the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
- DirectorCarol MansourTwelve Palestinian women discuss their lives in Palestine and in the diaspora and how they remain connected to their culture through embroidery.
- DirectorAnna BaltzerStarsAnna BaltzerAnna Baltzer, the Jewish-American granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, provides a straightforward account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while chronicling the almost unbearable living conditions of Palestinians under the Occupation.
- DirectorNida SinnokrotPalestine Blues', follows the repercussions of the Israeli Security Wall and Settlement expansion in the engulfed/annexed Palestinian farming communities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Instead of focusing on the object of the Wall, "Palestine Blues" examines the grassroots resistance movement that has sprung up against it. 'Palestine Blues' is not a 'traditional' political reportage but rather an interminable road trip across hard and liquid borders, across a terrain that is being erased as it is being traversed.
- DirectorSamir AbdallahKheridine Mabrouk
- DirectorDavid KoffLong before the first Intifada drew international media to focus on Palestinian life under Israeli rule, David Koff produced this in-depth portrait of the daily conflict being waged in Israel/Palestine. It was recently rediscovered. With a combination of candid interviews and remarkable historic footage, Occupied Palestine unpicks the strategic and ideological motors of Israeli rule in Palestine, powerfully depicting that the roots of today's crises were firmly planted in the ground decades ago. Met with bomb threats and censorship on its initial release in the US in 1981, Occupied Palestine remains a singular work of engaged filmmaking and a unique record of an overlooked chapter in the course of the conflict.
- DirectorNick MacdonaldA personal take on Palestine and the creation of Israel, from the Arab perspective. Admittedly a presentation of only one side of the story, done in order to provide some balance to the issue for American audiences.
- DirectorRashid Al-MarriStarsEbrahim UstadiLetters to Palestine is a documentary project that gathers the voices of Arab people to read their letters-never-sent to the Palestinian people living under occupation. Young and old, these correspondents are given a unique chance to send Palestinians their love and their stories. In October of 2010, the first cut of the film was screened in Lyd, El Khalil (Hebron) and Naasrah (Nazareth) to the members of the community, and copies were given to the attendees to screen in their own communities.