The Encampments is a brave and powerful new documentary following the Palestine solidarity protests that erupted across university campuses in 2024.

With gripping footage of the protesters’ struggle, the film shows the peaceful nature of the movement and the momentous challenges it faces. Featuring detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, alongside professors, whistleblowers and organisers, the film captures the deeper stakes of a historic moment that continues to reverberate across the globe.

Timely, urgent and filled with a clear-eyed fury, The Encampments is a rallying cry for those who refuse to be silenced and a message of hope for the people of Palestine.

The Garden Cinema View:

A rousing, enraging, but ultimately hopeful record of the student encampments that mushroomed around the world, following the lead of - initially - a few dozen students at Columbia University. The Encampments tracks student organisers demanding divestment on the part of their universities from companies involved in the sale of weapons to Israel, and subsequently facing attacks from Zionist groups and police violence, as they attempt to hold these places of learning to account.

Practically made in real time and with a sense of urgency, the documentary highlights the way academic institutions are enmeshed with these companies, thereby exposing their complicity in both the killing of Palestinian civilians and the repression of their own students whose interests they are meant to defend. We hear from Palestinian journalists on the ground in Gaza, as well as students and activists from the four corners of the world, which, if nothing else, leaves us with a sense of hope driven by how connected and global the movement for justice and accountability has become.