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Global support for Palestinian causes is growing, including the film industry, where thousands of industry professionals have joined a pledge to avoid Israeli film groups deemed involved in the war in Gaza, and high-profile celebrities are supporting movies that focus on the Palestinian people’s lived reality.

Yet, Palestinian-produced films continue to struggle to obtain release and gain visibility – despite a significant Oscars victory recently. To highlight Palestine’s vibrant heritage of film-making, we invited prominent Palestinian directors and artists to discuss their top Palestinian movies.

‘By the End, I Was Moved to Tears’: Mo Amer on All That’s Left Of You

Director Cherien Dabis’s film All That’s Left of You, which premiered recently at Sundance, is a unique film, bold and unforgettable. By telling the story of a single Palestinian clan, from its origins in pre-1948 the city of Jaffa through generations of exile, it does not just tell a tale – it honors a heritage.

The visuals are vivid and immersive. Every shot feels intentional, each image a recollection – the orange groves of Jaffa, the roads of Nablus, the isolation of displacement. The performances are unforgettable, highlighting Dabis’s remarkable versatility together with multiple generations of the Bakris – the group of actors most associated with Palestinian film. They are layered, restrained and deeply authentic.

The most striking aspect is how smoothly the film moves between time periods without ever losing its emotional throughline. Each decade of the Palestinian history is depicted with stunning precision, both in imagery and emotionally. The direction is skillful in that regard, guiding you through time with clarity and care.

By the end, I was moved to tears. All That’s Left of You isn’t just about the past, it’s about the invisible manners it shapes who we are. It’s a film that lingers – not because of drama, but because of truth.

• Mo Amer is a Palestinian American actor and comedian and the creator of a popular Netflix show.

‘The Most Wildly Original Palestinian Film Ever Made’: Cherien Dabis on Divine Intervention

A shades-wearing Palestinian woman defiantly struts through a checkpoint. Israel’s troops look on, weapons pointed, baffled. Her beauty subdues them and causes the watchtower to collapse. It’s an iconic moment from director Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention that has stayed with me ever since I first saw the movie. I was a second-year postgraduate cinema student at Columbia University when it premiered in the United States in 2003. I recall being amazed by its power, its resistance, and its sheer audacity.

At a time when the majority of Palestinian cinema tended to be the solemn or tragic, the director carved a fresh direction. Through satire, straight-faced performance, and almost silent observation, he captured the bizarre absurdity of life under occupation. Portraying the film’s mute main character personally, he placed his own perspective at the heart of the story. That decision felt revolutionary. His presence was composed and restrained, which only magnified the tension all around him.

Divine Intervention is both deeply personal and highly political. Its visual language is universal, yet rooted in the fractured existence of Palestinian self. The filmmaker turns separation, exile and resistance into something resembling art. The result is poignant, dreamlike, sometimes hilarious and consistently deeply honest.

There existed nothing similar to it in Palestinian cinema at the time. There still isn’t. It continues to be, for me, the most wildly original and creative Palestinian film ever made.

• Cherien Dabis is a Palestinian-American filmmaker, writer, producer and actor, whose latest movie is an official entry for the Oscars.

‘Palestine Has Gained a Talent’: Hany Abu Assad on To a Land Unknown

For me, a outstanding movie needs to do two aspects. It needs to provide an experience that’s unfamiliar, feeling and intelligent. It needs to offer me an element I’ve been lacking – a point of view that challenges my views, a way to think about topics outside my own life, a view to a different era and location. Simply put, I need to feel enriched, emotionally and intellectually.

Additionally, it needs to impress me with its talent. A ability that is not focused seeking approval but is used to open my eyes to an idea more important.

The movie To a Land Unknown, which was launched recently, is exactly this kind of movie. Created by director Mahdi Fleifel, it is a story about two Palestinian companions searching for better lives as displaced persons in Greece.

To a Land Unknown made me feel what it’s like to be a at-risk refugee, in a strange land, where all factors acts in opposition to your efforts to escape the ghetto. It showed me that in certain situations, although conditions beyond your control work to hinder you, you personally can nonetheless become your own worst enemy. And its dance between content and cinematic style floored me in its craft.

In To a Land Unknown, the Palestinian cause has gained a gifted artist that will support its cause without shedding a single ounce of blood.

• Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian Dutch director, screenwriter and twice Academy Award contender for his acclaimed films.

‘It Shows Israel Views Even Cows as a Threat’: Basel Adra on The Wanted 18

Among my most loved Palestinian movies is The Wanted 18. It recounts the story of Palestinian people in Beit Sahour, a town near Bethlehem in the West Bank, during the initial uprising of the 1980s. It records their attempt to {