After breaking the record for the highest per-screen average ever for an opening of a documentary, The Encampments will open in theaters across the United States. The documentary, which narrates the story of the Gaza Solidary Encampments at Columbia University from the perspective of student activists themselves, is now available for view in over 65 theaters across the United States and Canada following an opening run at the Angelika Film Center in New York City. Those curious to learn about the Columbia University student movement beyond right-wing and Trump administration accusations of alleged anti-semitism can now see the film in Vancouver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Miami Beach, Dallas, and many more locations.
The release of the documentary, produced by BreakThrough News and Watermelon Pictures and directed by Kei Pritsker and Michael T Workman, has been covered by major outlets including The Washington Post, Variety, Deadline, and Hyperallergic. Main narrators in the film are student activists themselves, many of whom have faced extreme repression by both Columbia University and the Trump administration.
Centrally featured in the documentary is Mahmoud Khalil, a primary negotiator between the Columbia University administration and students seeking divestment from Israeli genocide. Khalil was arrested by plainclothes federal agents on March 8 and is still being held in a Louisiana ICE facility to this day.
The film aims to shift the narrative on the student movement for Palestine as the Trump administration only escalates its crackdown on activists and free speech. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest unions in the US, staged rallies across the country on April 1 to demand the release of imprisoned union members Rumeysa Ozturk and Lewelyn Dixon, who have both been abducted by Trump’s immigration authorities. Trump Secretary of State Marco Rubio has recently bragged about revoking the visas of over 300 international students for protest activity. Students across the country have seen the fallout from this, with many having visas revoked, including eight students at Arizona State University, an ASU spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.
The film “set out to debunk the lies about the encampments,” director Kei Pritsker told Peoples Dispatch. “Now, the film’s importance is so much higher because the lies about the encampments are actually being used to justify the deportation campaign against the students.”
According to Pritsker, the film “completely blows the lies out of the water,” including the accusations of anti-semitism against the pro-Palestine student movement at Columbia.
On Wednesday, April 2, Jewish students at Columbia chained themselves to a gate on campus in protest of the continued detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Students held signs with slogans including “First, they came for Mahmoud” and “release Mahmoud Khalil now!” Students demanded the name of the Columbia University trustee who they allege reported Khalil to ICE.
