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International support for Palestine’s rights is growing, even in the film industry, where thousands of film workers have joined a commitment to avoid Israeli cinema organizations deemed complicit in the war in Gaza, and high-profile celebrities are backing films that focus on the Palestinian lived reality.

However, Palestinian-produced films continue to face challenges to secure distribution and achieve exposure – even after a significant Oscars victory last year. To highlight the Palestinian vibrant tradition of cinema, we invited leading Palestinian film-makers and artists to discuss their favorite Palestinian movies.

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

Cherien Dabis’s film All That’s Left of You, which premiered recently at Sundance, is a rare film, bold and memorable. By telling the narrative of a one Palestinian clan, from its roots in pre-Nakba Jaffa through decades of displacement, it does not just tell a tale – it celebrates a heritage.

The cinematography are rich and immersive. Every shot feels intentional, every frame a recollection – the citrus orchards of Jaffa, the roads of Nablus, the alienation of displacement. The acting are unforgettable, highlighting Dabis’s extraordinary versatility together with multiple generations of the Bakris – the family of performers most associated with Palestinian cinema. They are layered, restrained and deeply authentic.

What’s most impressive is how seamlessly the movie shifts between different eras without ever losing its narrative thread. Every period of the Palestinian people’s story is brought to life with remarkable precision, both visually and in feeling. The direction is masterful in that way, guiding you through time with precision and care.

By the end, I was brought 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 lingers – not because of spectacle, but because of honesty.

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

‘A Groundbreaking Masterpiece’: Cherien Dabis on Divine Intervention

A sunglasses-clad Palestinian female boldly walks through a security post. Israel’s troops look on, weapons pointed, baffled. Her presence disarms them and brings the guard tower crashing down. It’s an memorable scene from Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention that has remained in my mind ever since I initially watched the film. I was a second-year graduate film student at a university when it premiered in the United States in 2003. I remember being amazed by its impact, its defiance, and its pure boldness.

During an era when the majority of Palestinian film leaned toward the solemn or tragic, Suleiman created a fresh direction. Through dark humor, deadpan performance, and almost silent observation, he portrayed the bizarre ridiculousness of life under occupation. Portraying the film’s silent main character himself, he placed his own perspective at the heart of the narrative. That choice felt revolutionary. His performance was calm and restrained, which only magnified the stress all around him.

Divine Intervention is both intimately personal and highly political. Its visual language is universal, yet rooted in the divided reality of Palestinian self. Suleiman turns disconnection, displacement and resistance into something approaching poetry. The result is poignant, dreamlike, at times funny and always painfully honest.

There existed nothing similar to it in Palestinian cinema at the time. There still isn’t. It remains, for me, the most innovative and creative Palestinian movie ever created.

• Cherien Dabis is a Palestinian-American director, screenwriter, film producer and actor, whose most recent film is an official entry for the Academy Awards.

‘A Remarkable New Voice’: Hany Abu Assad on To a Land Unknown

In my view, a outstanding film needs to do two aspects. It needs to deliver an experience that’s unfamiliar, emotional and smart. It needs to give me an element I’ve been missing – a point of view that contradicts my views, a method to think about issues beyond my own life, a view to a distinct era and place. In short, I need to feel enlightened, emotionally and intellectually.

Second, it needs to impress me with its skill. A talent that is not focused seeking approval but is employed to open my eyes to something deeper.

The film To a Land Unknown, which was launched last year, is precisely this kind of movie. Made by director Mahdi Fleifel, it is a tale about a pair of Palestinian companions looking for better lives as displaced persons in the country of Greece.

To a Land Unknown allowed me to experience what it’s like to be a at-risk migrant, in a foreign country, where everything works in opposition to your efforts to escape the slum. It showed me that in certain situations, although circumstances beyond your control conspire to hinder you, you personally can nonetheless become your own biggest obstacle. And its interplay between story and cinematic style astonished me in its artistry.

In To a Land Unknown, Palestine has found a gifted artist that will support its mission without spilling a one drop of blood.

• Hany Abu-Assad is a Palestinian Dutch director, writer and two-time Oscar contender for his celebrated films.

‘Even Livestock Are Seen as a Danger’: Basel Adra on The Wanted 18

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