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Global backing for Palestine’s rights is increasing, even in Hollywood, where numerous of film workers have joined a pledge to boycott Israeli film groups deemed involved in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and well-known stars are supporting movies that center the Palestinian experience.

Yet, Palestinian-produced films still face challenges to secure release and gain exposure – despite a significant Academy Awards victory last year. To showcase the Palestinian vibrant tradition of film-making, we asked prominent Palestinian film-makers and entertainers to share their favorite Palestinian-made movies.

‘It Brought Me to Tears’: Mo Amer Reflects on All That’s Left Of You

Director Cherien Dabis’s movie All That’s Left of You, which debuted this year at the Sundance Film Festival, is a rare film, unflinching and unforgettable. By portraying the story of a one Palestinian clan, from its roots in pre-1948 Jaffa through decades of displacement, it does not just recount a story – it honors a legacy.

The visuals are rich and transportive. Every shot feels purposeful, each image a recollection – the citrus orchards of Jaffa, the roads of Nablus, the isolation of exile. The acting are unforgettable, showcasing Dabis’s remarkable versatility alongside three generations of the Bakri family – the family of actors most synonymous with Palestinian film. They are complex, subtle and heartbreakingly real.

The most striking aspect is how seamlessly the film shifts between different eras without ever losing its emotional throughline. Each decade of the Palestinian people’s story is brought to life with remarkable detail, both in imagery and in feeling. The filmmaking is masterful in that way, leading you through years with clarity and sensitivity.

By the end, I was moved to tears. All That’s Left of You isn’t just about the history, it’s about the invisible manners it influences who we are. It’s a movie that stays with you – not because of spectacle, but because of honesty.

• Mo Amer is a Palestinian American actor and comic and the creator of a well-known streaming show.

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

A shades-wearing Palestinian female boldly walks through a security post. Israel’s troops look on, guns raised, baffled. Her beauty subdues them and brings the watchtower crashing down. It’s an iconic scene from Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention that has remained in my mind ever since I initially watched the movie. I was a second-year postgraduate film student at a university when it opened in the United States in 2003. I remember being stunned by its power, its resistance, and its sheer boldness.

During an era when most Palestinian film leaned toward the solemn or tragic, Suleiman carved a new path. Through satire, deadpan acting, and near-silent observation, he portrayed the surreal absurdity of existence under military control. Portraying the film’s mute protagonist personally, he placed his own gaze at the heart of the story. That decision felt revolutionary. His performance was calm and restrained, which only magnified the stress all around him.

Divine Intervention is both intimately personal and politically charged. Its imagery is global, yet rooted in the divided existence of Palestinian identity. The filmmaker transforms disconnection, exile and resistance into something resembling poetry. The result is touching, dreamlike, at times funny and consistently deeply honest.

There existed nothing remotely like it in Palestinian film at the period. It remains unique. It continues to be, for me, the most innovative and creative Palestinian-made movie ever made.

• Cherien Dabis is a Palestinian American director, screenwriter, producer and actor, whose latest movie is a selected submission for the Oscars.

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

In my view, a great film needs to do two things. It needs to provide an journey that’s unfamiliar, feeling and smart. It needs to give me something I’ve been missing – a perspective that contradicts my views, a way to think about issues beyond my own world, a window to a distinct time and place. In short, I need to feel enriched, in spirit and intellectually.

Additionally, it needs to move me with its talent. A ability that is not busy seeking approval but is used to open my eyes to an idea deeper.

The movie To a Land Unknown, which was released last year, is exactly this kind of film. Made by director Mahdi Fleifel, it is a story about a pair of Palestinian companions looking for improved futures as displaced persons in the country of Greece.

To a Land Unknown allowed me to experience what it’s like to be a vulnerable migrant, in a strange country, where everything works against your efforts to escape the slum. It demonstrated me that in some cases, even when conditions outside your control work to hinder you, you personally can still become your own worst enemy. And its dance between content and cinematic style astonished me in its craft.

In To a Land Unknown, Palestine has gained a talent that will serve its cause without shedding a one ounce of violence.

• Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian-Dutch filmmaker, screenwriter and two-time Oscar contender for his celebrated works.

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

One of my favorite Palestinian films is The Wanted 18. It tells the story of Palestinian people in the village of Beit Sahour, a village near the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, during the first intifada of the 1980s. It documents their attempt to {