Interview: ‘The Encampments’ Director Kei Pritsker on the Urgency of Speaking Up and Speaking Out Against Injustice

The Encampments broke records last weekend, managing to rake in the largest single-theater opening ever for a documentary. With its important timeliness, it’s a film that strikes the heart of what democracy in America is expected to look like, versus the reality that is. I spoke with one of the directors, Kei Pritsker, about the film, and what it was like to cover the historic student movement that took place globally across college campuses last year.

When you talk about Palestine, it’s easy to feel like you’re walking on eggshells. People will often misunderstand what you mean, not understand what you say, or refuse to try and understand at all. That’s why films like The Encampments are so crucial — so you can hear directly from those who are fighting for Palestinian liberation, and view them as they truly are, instead of through the lenses of mass media.

In discussing the film, the subject naturally turns to what makes it so critical at this point in history. It’s impossible to really engage with the subject matter of The Encampments without engaging in the politics of the world around us — whether that is the current administration’s crackdown on immigration, corporate accountability in war, or higher education’s entanglement with war profiteering. It’s the kind of conversation that deserves not only your attention, but also a willingness to engage with the uncomfortable.

Tariq Ra’ouf: The Encampments does a really good job of capturing the camp from the day it started, basically to the day it ended. Can you describe how this documentary started, and what made you know it was a moment worth capturing?

Kei Pritsker: I was covering the student protests at Columbia starting in November. So that first scene you see where the students are protesting the banning of SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) and JVP (Jewish Voices For Peace), that was actually one of the first reports I did at Columbia on the student movement. So I was really there as a reporter from earlier. And I had met some of the student leaders through that, and they reached out to me when they were setting up the encampment and they said, “Hey, we’re setting up this encampment because the administration’s not listening to us. We’ve tried everything and we’re out of options, so we’re going to escalate with this. Can you come and cover it?” So I did, and I was going there as a journalist. And I got there the first day, and when I was there, there was this sort of threat or this rumor that the NYPD was going to come and sweep the camp.

So, I stayed there that night and they ended up coming the next morning instead. And obviously, that’s when those arrests that happened, of the first lawn, were the ones that basically set off the entire global encampment movement. And that’s when I asked the students, “Hey, can I live here with you guys?” And they allowed it. So, that’s when it became a global movement. I was still filming it for a news package. I was filming with the intent of making a news package, not a documentary. It was actually only until after everything was said and done, I was working… I actually made the news package, wrote it, edited it and everything.

And we reached out to our friends at Watermelon Pictures, just out of curiosity, because we had so much footage and we were like, “Hey, should we publish this news report or do you think there’s something worthwhile here? Do you think there’s something more?” And they were like, “Don’t publish that, please.” I mean, it almost didn’t happen. But yeah, I think as soon as the encampment spread worldwide, we knew this was a historic moment. I don’t think it really dawned on us that it could have [become what it is]… I mean, this is our first film, really, so.

TR: So, what I’m hearing is you’re doing it for the news, as a journalist, trying to tell the world what the truth is as you normally would have been doing it, at BreakThrough News. And then you realized what you had and you went, “This should be a documentary. People need to see this in a longer format.”

KP: Yes. And we just had so much footage and it was such a national historic event. I think the only way to really do the story justice was to do it in a 80, 90 minute format.

TR: We know the film was planned for the fall, but then Mahmoud [Khalil] got detained. And now, Trump’s Press Secretary is saying that this administration is looking into deporting citizens at this rate. So, can you dive into the urgency of the film and why it’s so critical that people view this sooner rather than later?

KP: Yeah. We made a very intentional choice to push up the release of the film because of Mahmoud’s detention. I mean, that was the sole reason, and it was a very easy decision to make. We had set out from the beginning, we had set out with the purpose of making the biggest political impact possible. We never did this for money or fame. I mean, there’s no money in this, first of all. But we didn’t care about anything but really telling the truth about the encampments, and we wanted to expose these lies that were being told from the day they started. All kinds of things were said, I don’t need to repeat them, but everything that was being said about the encampments was being said by people who had never set foot on one. And we had all this footage of the actual inside of Columbia, and we felt a duty, a responsibility to show people the truth, to show them that their government and the media was lying to them.

But when Mahmoud was abducted, the stakes just got 10 times higher. The goal of the film, all of that remained the same. Our goal was still to expose the lies about the encampment. But now the lies about the encampment are actually, they are serving as the logical foundation. They’re serving as the Trump administration’s foundational argument to justify their deportation campaign. They’re essentially saying, the students and visa holders, all these people we want to deport, they should be deported because they participate in these encampments which were anti-semitic or violent or this, that, and the other. They’re essentially using these lies now to justify the deportation. So, the stakes just got that much higher. And when Mahmoud was abducted, I mean, we felt an absolute responsibility to put the film out.

TR: One of the messages of the film that’s so crucial, is that what you’re being told via the government or the news outlets that you listen to daily [is a lie]. And as the deportation cases get worse and the threats get worse, I feel like this is a critical film to really, truly and understand why every foundation of deporting these pro-Palestinian students is a lie, and you really need to stand up and fight against that. Because they’re telling people that these are criminals, but then you look at this documentary and they’re not criminals.

KP: And it’s a funny accusation to call the students criminals, because the ones calling them criminals are the ones sending billions of dollars to Israel. I mean, their job is that they go to work every week, and finance the mass murder of children. So, who are they to call anyone criminals? Who are they to call these students protesting a genocide criminals? There’s so much crime that’s happening on a daily basis in this country, in Palestine, around the world being committed by our own government. They have no right to call anyone criminals, quite frankly. And that really is sort of the thrust of our documentary — beyond just exposing the lies about the students on a more fundamental level, it really is combating this notion of who the enemy is. I mean, the media has been spinning lies for 20 years. I mean, it’s not just Palestine.

They tried to tell us that Iraq was our enemy. They tried to tell us Afghanistan was our enemy. They tried to tell us Libya was our enemy. Every single conflict that they tried to start or to perpetuate, is based on lies. And now they’re trying to tell us the Palestinians are our enemies. No, the Palestinians are the heroes. They’re trying to call the Palestinians terrorists. No, the Israelis are committing actual acts of terrorism every single day. So, it speaks to something much more fundamental in our society, which is that the media is a fundamentally untrustworthy institution.

I mean, we call it the corporate media, not for no reason because they rely on advertising revenue, they rely on corporate sponsorships to basically finance themselves. And because of that, they can’t say anything that goes against the interests of Lockheed Martin or Procter & Gamble, or Raytheon or whoever it is that runs ads on their [platform], they have to say things that go along with their interests, otherwise they lose their revenue. I mean, it speaks to many things. I mean, obviously, there’s a huge theme in the film of just juxtaposing what the students are saying, to what the media is saying, it’s like night and day. It is night and day, and I think people are waking up, whether it’s around the issue of Palestine or anything else. I think people are waking up and realizing that the traditional media is no longer trustworthy.

TR: One of the greatest things about this country is supposed to be the right to free speech and protest. And as far as I understand it, the lawn at Columbia was even designated as a protest zone prior to the encampments. So, what does it say about universities like Columbia, that have championed student protests in the past, now saying, “Well, we don’t like this one. You can’t protest this issue.”

KP: It shows that they’re hypocrites. I mean, it shows that they’re fundamentally hypocrites. It’s ironic that, as an institution that champions debate and education and the pursuit of knowledge, that they would do something as low as censoring their students, going as far as arresting them to basically shut them up. I mean, that goes against the whole spirit of academia. It goes against the whole spirit of the exchange of knowledge. It goes against the whole spirit of the pursuit of knowledge and education. I mean, it goes back to what I was saying earlier, and it’s one of the main themes of the film: None of this would’ve been happening at Columbia. None of the problems that the encampment would’ve happened had Columbia actually listened to the students. 

I mean, there was a line in the film that Mahmoud says, he says, “We were offering the university a gift. We were giving them the gift of the opportunity to be a moral university, and instead they chose to arrest us. Why?” Because Columbia University, just like the media, just like Congress, just like every institution of importance in this country is for sale. It’s for sale to the highest bidder. And that was one of the central problems, or the central problems presented to the viewer in the film is that Columbia wasn’t acting based on what is logical, who’s making the best argument or what’s moral or what is in line with international human rights law. They were making their decision based on who is giving them money. And the people giving them money are these weapons contractors.

It’s this technology and Silicon Valley companies, it’s donors who run these companies, who make money off of weapons manufacturing and war profiteering. It’s people who support Israel and just want the university to do whatever is best for Israel. So, they were acting because they felt like if they upset their donors, they would lose their money. I mean, they don’t care about free speech, it doesn’t matter how many times they say, “We care about free speech. We value this, we value that.” It doesn’t matter how many free speech zones they create, it doesn’t matter how many Greek philosophers they etch into the top of their library building. All of that is farcical if they don’t actually allow a real debate and a real discussion to take place about Palestine. I mean, Colombia has fully shown their true colors.

TR: The Palestinian liberation movement is one of the most misunderstood subjects of our lifetime. As a journalist, and someone who has been in this movement for 10 years, how do you hope this film helps viewers understand it a bit more?

KP: I think it’s pretty clear when you watch the film. I think anyone that watches the film that maybe doesn’t even know much about Palestine. Once you watch the film, I don’t think it’s really that hard to figure out why these students care so much. It’s because there is a genocide happening. I mean, it really is that simple, and it’s a genocide that’s really been ongoing for a hundred years. But that’s the strange thing, is with the media and the politicians and all of the powers that were trying to do [this], they were trying to obfuscate what the students motives were in every way possible. They’re saying, “Oh, these students, they just want to be edgy. They just want to look cool. Oh, these students, they just don’t want to be in class. They just want to cut class. Oh, they’re just anti-semitic, they just hate Jews. Oh, they actually don’t know what they’re talking about. They just saw a TikTok so they thought it would be a fun idea to go protest.”

And it’s like, what people are being told about this movement is, it’s like they’re doing mental gymnastics. It’s like, they attribute all these crazy motives, “Oh, they’re being financed by foreign countries.” It’s like, maybe people are just sick of seeing genocide on TV every day. Maybe it’s just that. Maybe It’s just that simple. Maybe people just don’t like their tax dollars being used to blow up hospitals and schools. And I think if you just listen to the students, which is what we were hoping the media would do all along, we never wanted to make a documentary like this. There really should be no need for a documentary like this. If the media actually did their job and asked the students, “Why are you here? What are you doing here? What motivates you to do this?” They would get their answer.

Instead, they go and ask them a hundred questions about, “Oh, do you really? Are you sure? You’re not like a bigot? You’re not an anti-semite? Do you support Hamas?” All these different things. So, the film is really meant to just allow the students, give them the space to speak for themselves and explain their own motives. And these students, they’re just one of millions. I mean, I think everyone that supports Palestine, anyone that’s been involved in the movement would tell you the same thing. It’s not that complicated. We want to stop a genocide. That’s it.

TR: Yeah. It’s one of the most infuriating experiences in the world, especially when you get films like this and you hear directly from the students. I mean, the Hind’s Hall scene, and that part of the film, was heartbreaking, right? We want to stop things like that, and yet people will hear it directly from our mouths, and we’ll tell you why we want this to stop. And then somehow something just doesn’t click. Even if you hear it straight from the people that are protesting, from the Palestinians, there’s something that blocks or misinterprets what’s coming out of our mouths into something that then justifies the violence.

KP: Yeah, yeah.I mean, it’s really, it is so infuriating. People have to remember that this is intentional. It’s not like people don’t understand or we’re not articulating ourselves well enough. This is the actual media strategy, the PR strategy of the state of Israel. And you can watch documentaries, The Lobby documentary is a great one by Al Jazeera, that shows the inside of how these people think. I mean, the whole issue of anti-semitism is obviously a distraction. I mean, that shouldn’t be news to anyone. It’s only thrown out there when you start talking about Israel’s crimes. It’s like, every time you start talking about Israel’s crimes, they’re like, “Oh, look over there, anti-semitism. It’s like, it’s so obviously meant to stall debate, it so obviously meant to shift blame and deflect. I hate this word, but it really is gaslighting. It really is. It’s meant to make you feel crazy. They want to just distract and distract while they continue to steal land, continue to ethnically cleanse. It’s a distraction, pure and simple.

TR: It’s incredibly difficult to get Palestinian narratives into mainstream media, but this film broke records on its release weekend. So what do you think that says about audiences that want to hear these stories?

KP: I think it says that they exist, which is the failed hypothesis that Hollywood’s been running with for decades, that people don’t care about Palestine. They don’t want to hear stories about Palestine. They don’t want to hear stories about justice and dignity and fights for liberation. That’s not true. I think our film disproves that entirely, and I think it also shows just how badly the media lied. I think the reason there’s so much buzz around this film is because it shows definitively that people were lied to, and that the students weren’t the violent anti-semites that they were made out to be. They were actually heroes.

And I think people are shocked and surprised and probably very disheartened to learn they’ve been lied to about the Palestine movement and the student movement for the last 18 months. And yeah, I think the success just shows these students, they’re not children, they’re not like these dumb kids watching TikTok like they’ve been depicted. I think the film shows how dedicated, how unwavering, how brave and courageous the students were, which is the complete opposite of the way the media depicted them. I think people saw the film and were impressed and realized these students actually know what they’re talking about, and it’s the media that doesn’t.

TR: It’s not just universities that punish people for protesting Palestine, right? You see the way Disney was quick to blame Rachel Zegler for Snow White‘s performance, and not the former IDF soldier. We also see the way that organizations like Stop Anti-Semitism have now gone after people like Zegler, for simply literally saying, “Stop bombing children.” Why do you think there is such an institutional level of suppression for these voices, especially in the entertainment space?

KP: Well, the honest answer is the Israel lobby is highly, highly organized. That’s the reality. And Zionism is still, unfortunately, the dominant trend in the Jewish community. I can attest to that coming from one, being raised in one. And yeah, the lobby is very well organized, they’re very powerful, they’re very influential, and they know how to basically extract concessions from people by threatening people’s jobs, by threatening their livelihoods, by smearing their reputations. And even what you’re mentioning with Snow White, I mean, this is a totally ridiculous narrative that people are saying that the film is tanking because Rachel Ziegler supports Palestine, and not that people are boycotting it because there’s an IDF soldier in the film.

Hollywood in general, we saw after the genocide began, put out statement after statement, basically, all these actors, actresses, basically not just putting out statements supporting Israel, but people that wanted to support Palestine were fired, dropped from agencies, were blacklisted, people like Susan Sarandon. I mean, this has been happening for years and years and years, and it’s been happening because there hasn’t been a strong movement for Palestine. I mean, before 2023, you really could lose everything over this. Now that there are millions of people that are awake to this issue, it’s different, and people are sort of calling these things out. Yeah. I mean, I would say it’s because they’re highly organized and well-financed, and they have the support of the US government.

Their interests are in line with the interests of the US government, so they’re doing something that would be basically unacceptable if a country like Russia or China is getting people fired or getting them blacklisted. Can you imagine if actors were losing careers because they criticize a country like Russia, and the Russian government or some Russian lobby was coming in and pressuring people to fire these people? It would be scandalous. But that’s exactly what’s happening with Israel. The only difference is Israel is fully supported by the United States government, so they work together. And yeah, that’s what I would say.

TR: I think one of the most powerful things about documentaries like The Encampments is the way that it can challenge people to think critically about things that they’re raised on. Hollywood, in particular, has contributed to pushing a narrative since its inception that Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians are all violent, and that they deserve this level of inhumane destruction. If you could say one thing to someone who watches the film, and is still unable to empathize with the students because they view them in a way that the media has trained them to, what would you say to try and convince them to start questioning those narratives?

KP: Every aspect of the war on terror was a lie, so why would this one be true? That’s what I would say. I mean, every single war post-9/11 was based on a lie. So why would this one be true? When has it ever turned out like that, we know who the enemy is. How are the Palestinians our enemy? I mean, funny enough, one of the things that the students would tell me all the time is the same people that are lobbying our government to send more weapons to Israel, the same people that are lobbying our government to continue these endless wars in the Middle East, the same people doing that are the ones who were telling our government in those billionaire group chats with Eric Adams saying, “Arrest the students, shut down free speech, ban protests on campus, cut Medicare and Medicaid, and put more money in the military budget.”

The same people that want the genocide and Palestine, the same people that want war with Iran are the ones screwing us over,  they are the ones that want to ban free speech and protest rights, and are eroding what little left of the social safety net we have. So really, us and the Palestinians, we’re fighting the same enemy. We’re fighting the military industrial complex. We’re fighting the banks and the corporate media that just lie to us on a daily basis. So yeah, I would ask that person to tell me one thing that the Pentagon has been right about, and I’ll listen.

TR: Is there anything you want to say about the importance of people with platforms in this industry using them to speak up?

KP: I think it’s important for people with platforms to speak up. I didn’t really have a huge platform before 2023, and I’m trying to spread as much awareness as possible. I mean, if you have a platform for whatever reason, you have a responsibility to say something. Everyone has a responsibility to speak up when there’s a genocide happening, but especially the people that can influence a wide range of people. And I would also say, please, just to all the influencers out there, it’s not just [that you should] speak up, but this is not about any of us as individuals. This is not about money. This is not about fame. If you’re going to speak up, do it, but be humble, please. That’s it.

The Encampments is currently in limited theatrical release from Watermelon Pictures.