This awards season, three powerful films are shining a light on Palestinian stories, offering a century’s worth of history through diverse narratives. Though their plots and timelines differ, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” “All That’s Left of You,” and “Palestine 36” all stem from a shared ambition: to delve beyond fleeting news headlines and social media posts, revealing the intricate realities of Palestinian lives.
Two years ago, Tunisian director and writer Kaouther Ben Hania was deeply moved by the voice recordings of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl tragically trapped in a car in Gaza amidst the bodies of her six relatives. Despite desperate rescue attempts by the Palestine Red Crescent, Hind was found dead almost two weeks later, her poignant, high-pitched voice having resonated globally. Ben Hania, an Oscar nominee for her 2023 documentary “Four Daughters,” was already developing a new feature, but felt compelled to share Hind’s story, especially given the ongoing conflict in Gaza. She remarked that Palestinian voices are often silenced, but Hind’s was unforgettable. After connecting with Hind’s mother, Wesam Hamada, Ben Hania received permission to proceed with the film.
In “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” call center workers are depicted racing against time to rescue a 5-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car. This image captures the intensity of the dramatic reenactment.
The resulting docudrama, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” masterfully incorporates Hind’s actual voice recordings. Actors like Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Amer Hlehel, and Clara Khoury portray the intense rescue efforts from the Red Crescent’s West Bank call center. Filmed in Tunisia, this movie is currently a contender for the best international Oscar. Ben Hania guided the cast to infuse their performances with the same hope that motivated the real-life rescuers. The script closely followed the original recordings, and the actors only heard the full conversations as filming began. Ben Hania recounted how one actor was so deeply affected by Hind’s pleas that he visibly broke down on set.
While “The Voice of Hind Rajab” emerged directly from the Gaza war, Palestinian American director and actress Cherien Dabis had been developing “All That’s Left of You” for many years. This film sensitively portrays the intergenerational trauma within a Palestinian family. Drawing inspiration from her own family, Dabis sought to explore the profound impact of decades of political violence. The movie, nominated for best international film at the Indie Spirits, features the late Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri alongside his sons Adam and Saleh, and Dabis herself playing the family matriarch.
The family’s narrative begins in Jaffa in 1948, during the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” a period marked by the displacement and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during Israel’s creation. The story then moves to 1978, with the family living in a West Bank refugee camp, and concludes in 1988, amidst the first intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.
Adam Bakri, left, and Salah El Din are seen in a scene from “All That’s Left of You,” where a man holds a boy up to a tree to pick what appears to be an orange.
Preproduction for “All That’s Left of You” started in May 2023 in the West Bank. However, the October 7th attacks on Israel led to a lockdown, and foreign crew members departed. Dabis initially planned to shoot some scenes in Cyprus, prioritizing them while monitoring the situation in the West Bank. When it became clear that returning would indefinitely delay the film, Dabis shifted the remaining production to Jordan and Greece. She even directed some West Bank scenes remotely via video calls. Dabis noted that filming over half the movie in Palestinian refugee camps in northern Jordan was invaluable, allowing them to collaborate with the local Palestinian refugee community in telling their own story.
“Palestine 36,” written and directed by Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir, revisits a lesser-known chapter: the farmer-led rebellion against British colonialism in Mandatory Palestine. This period drama, featuring an ensemble cast including Hiam Abbass and Jeremy Irons, opens in 1936, a time when thousands of Jews were immigrating to the region under the Balfour Declaration.
Saleh Bakri is depicted riding a horse in a dusty landscape, followed by other horsemen, in a still from “Palestine 36.” The film is scheduled to open next month.
The film alternates between two Palestinian realities: a village where farmers are losing their livelihoods and land to Jewish immigrants, and Jerusalem, where affluent landowners host lavish parties, largely oblivious to the farmers’ struggles. A mass strike escalates tensions between the local population and the British administration, eventually leading to a devastating climax. Jacir, based in Bethlehem, stated her intention to highlight how the British Empire inadvertently paved the way for the subsequent Israeli occupation. Her research for the story continuously revealed its startling contemporary relevance.
Jacir, much like Dabis, encountered numerous obstacles. Her team dedicated nearly a year to creating props and restoring an entire village to authentically portray the 1930s. They also had to navigate Israeli restrictions in the West Bank, which often caused hours-long delays at checkpoints. Production ceased after October 7th. The team eventually moved to Jordan, where they had to rebuild another village. Despite the challenges, Jacir was resolute about filming the final scenes in the West Bank and Israel, emphasizing that the land itself was integral to the story and could not be substituted.
Scheduled to open in New York on March 20th and nationwide in April, “Palestine 36” is Jacir’s fourth film chosen as the Oscar entry from the Palestinian territories. Both “Palestine 36” and “All That’s Left of You” (Jordan’s submission) advanced to the Academy Award shortlist for best international feature, though neither received a final nomination.
For all three filmmakers, working amidst the war in Gaza intensified the creative process. Dabis described how they were “literally creating scenes from 1948 that we were watching again happen on a more catastrophic, unprecedented scale in Gaza.” She and Ben Hania expressed their shock at the war’s duration, finding that their films offered a crucial outlet for their emotions. Dabis noted it felt like “channeling our grief rather than acting.” Jacir, too, adjusted her script, removing lighter elements that no longer felt appropriate after the war, stating that “everything just became heavier” and that “Palestine 36” was born of love, pain, and considerable rage.
Bringing these films to the screen was far from easy. “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” despite early support from executive producers like Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Rooney Mara, and winning the top prize at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, was ultimately distributed by independent company WILLA, rather than a major studio. “All That’s Left of You” premiered at Sundance in 2025, attracting executive producers like Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem. However, Dabis noted that mainstream distributors were wary of the film’s subject matter. This reluctance echoes the challenges faced by “No Other Land,” a film about Israel’s destruction of West Bank homes, which nevertheless went on to win the best documentary Oscar last year.
All the filmmakers collaborated in some capacity with Watermelon Pictures, a film production and distribution company co-founded by Palestinian American brothers Hamza and Badie Ali. Hamza Ali explained that their company was established in 2024 precisely because “there’s not a lot of distributors willing to roll the dice on these films.” He stressed their mission to elevate narratives that challenge the status quo, aiming to move past the dehumanization of Palestinians in the entertainment industry and portray them “beyond our suffering.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of Jewish immigrants under the Balfour Declaration in 1936. It was thousands, not millions. We are committed to correcting our mistakes; please contact corrections@nytimes.com if you find an error.