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International support for Palestinian causes is increasing, including the film industry, where numerous of film workers have signed a pledge to avoid Israel’s film groups considered involved in the war in Gaza, and high-profile celebrities are backing films that focus on the Palestinian lived reality.

However, Palestinian movies continue to struggle to secure distribution and gain visibility – even after a significant Academy Awards win last year. To showcase the Palestinian vibrant heritage of cinema, we invited leading Palestinian directors and entertainers to discuss their top Palestinian-made films.

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

Cherien Dabis’s film All That’s Left of You, which debuted recently at the Sundance Film Festival, is a rare film, bold and memorable. By telling the narrative of a single Palestinian family, from its origins in pre-Nakba Jaffa through generations of exile, it does not just recount a tale – it honors a legacy.

The cinematography are vivid and transportive. Each scene feels intentional, each image a memory – the citrus orchards of Jaffa, the streets of Nablus, the alienation of exile. The acting are powerful, highlighting Dabis’s extraordinary range alongside three generations of the Bakris – the family of performers most associated with Palestinian film. They are complex, subtle and heartbreakingly real.

The most striking aspect is how smoothly the film moves between time periods without ever breaking its narrative thread. Every period of the Palestinian story is depicted with stunning precision, both visually and emotionally. The filmmaking is masterful in that regard, guiding you through years with clarity and sensitivity.

By the end, I was brought to tears. All That’s Left of You isn’t just about the history, it’s about the unseen ways it shapes who we are. It’s a film that lingers – not because of spectacle, but because of honesty.

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

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

A sunglasses-clad Palestinian female defiantly struts through a security post. Israel’s soldiers look on, weapons pointed, baffled. Her presence disarms them and causes the watchtower to collapse. It’s an memorable scene from director 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 Columbia University when it opened in the United States in the early 2000s. I recall being stunned by its impact, its resistance, and its sheer audacity.

During an era when the majority of Palestinian film leaned toward the serious or tragic, Suleiman created a new path. Through satire, deadpan performance, and almost silent storytelling, he portrayed the surreal ridiculousness of life under occupation. Playing the movie’s silent protagonist personally, he placed his own gaze at the core of the story. That choice felt revolutionary. His performance was calm and restrained, which only heightened the tension all around him.

Divine Intervention is both deeply personal and politically charged. Its imagery is global, yet grounded in the fractured existence of Palestinian self. Suleiman turns disconnection, exile and defiance into something resembling art. The outcome is touching, dreamlike, sometimes funny and consistently deeply truthful.

There existed nothing remotely like it in Palestinian cinema at the period. It remains unique. It remains, for me, the most wildly original and creative Palestinian movie ever made.

• Cherien Dabis is a Palestinian-American director, screenwriter, film producer and actor, whose latest film 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 deliver an journey that’s unfamiliar, feeling and intelligent. It needs to give me an element I’ve been missing – a point of view that challenges my belief system, a method to think about topics beyond my own life, a window to a different era and location. Simply put, I need to feel enlightened, emotionally and in mind.

Additionally, it needs to impress me with its skill. A talent 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 Mahdi Fleifel, it is a tale about two Palestinian friends looking for better lives as refugees in the country of Greece.

To a Land Unknown made me feel what it’s like to be a at-risk refugee, in a foreign country, where everything works against your attempts to escape the ghetto. It demonstrated me that in some cases, although conditions outside your control work against you, you personally can nonetheless become your own worst enemy. And its interplay between story and cinematic style floored me in its craft.

In To a Land Unknown, Palestine has gained a gifted artist that will serve its mission without shedding a single ounce of violence.

• Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian Dutch filmmaker, writer and twice Oscar nominee for his celebrated films.

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

One of my favorite Palestinian movies is The Wanted 18. It tells the story of Palestinians in Beit Sahour, a village near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, during the first intifada of the 1980s. It records their effort to {