The political phenomenon of villages of pro-Palestinian protesters that gripped MIT and Harvard in the spring of 2024 is examined in “The Encampments,” a documentary screening Sunday at Out of the Blue Community Arts in Somerville.
The documentary, which was released in March, takes viewers into the student protests and encampments at Columbia University – the effort that started a nationwide movement. The film includes perspectives from former graduate student student Mahmoud Khalil, released recently by the government after being held for 104 days, professors, whistleblowers and other student activists.
The movement at Columbia was ignited by students rallying for the school to end its investments in Israel, which had been attacking Gaza relentlessly after a brutal Hamas incursion across its borders on Oct. 7, 2023. Encampments spread to hundreds of campuses across the United States. In New England, the ones at MIT and Harvard lasted the longest.
“America does not have enough exposure to Palestine and surrounding Middle Eastern territories. As such, we can utilize art to shed some light about those territories and how we can also support and preserve their good people,” said Parma Chai, owner of the Out of the Blue and organizer of the event.
The stories didn’t end with the encampments and their related protests. Those led to allegations of antisemitism on college campuses that the Trump presidential administration has used to attack the independence of higher education and as a pretext to detain Khalil, Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk and others.
After the screening, Willie Burnley Jr. – Somerville city councilor at large and a mayoral candidate – leads a discussion on Somerville’s response to the attack against Öztürk, who is accused only of co-writing an essay urging Tufts to divest from Israel, and his vision for protecting Somervillians’ First Amendment rights.
“Artists and intellectuals depend on the freedom of speech and expression to create. These freedoms have recently been under threat. Somerville has firsthand seen this attack,” Chai said. “‘The Encampments’ is a firsthand look at student uprising through the art scope of cinema.”
Watermelon Pictures, the film’s studio, intends to bring Palestinian cinema and other untold stories to broad audiences in a way that entertains, inspires and activates, according to its website. “We are changing the scope of what a Palestinian film can be and empowering artists to reclaim their own narrative,” the company says.
“The Encampments” is directed by Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker, and the rapper and singer Macklemore lends his name as executive producer. The documentary is an hour and a half long.
“The Encampments” screens at 5 p.m. Sunday at Out of the Blue, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. Free.
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