‘The Encampments,’ Macklemore-Produced Doc About Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Movement, Reveals U.S. Release Date and First-Look Images (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Timely doc “The Encampments,” which delves into the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment that grew into a wave of international student activism and subsequently sparked the ire of U.S.

President Donald Trump, is now set for release in U.S. movie theaters. Watermelon Pictures has announced a March 28 theatrical launch at the Angelika Film Center in New York, with a nationwide theatrical expansion to follow. “The Encampments” features Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil (pictured below), a recent Columbia graduate who was detained earlier this month by federal immigration agents in New York as part of Trump’s crackdown on students who have protested against the war in Gaza.

A judge has ordered the Trump administration not to deport Khalil pending a legal fight over his detention. The doc — produced by Grammy-winning rap artist Macklemore and directed by BreakThrough News journalist and producer Kei Pritsker and filmmaker Michael T Workman — will world premiere on March 25, ahead of its theatrical release, at the CPH:DOX Film Festival in Copenhagen.

The Columbia University encampment started in April 2024, when roughly 50 students pitched tents on university grounds in an occupation that snowballed into an international protest movement. “The Encampments” chronicles the protest’s escalation “from Columbia’s administration banning student organizations for Palestine to the mass arrests that broke a 50-year police ban on campus,” according to the provided synopsis. “As students faced police raids, media attacks and institutional repression, their movement spread to universities across the country and beyond, making history in real time.” The doc includes access to the.