A new documentary produced by rapper Macklemore that takes viewers inside the 2024 Columbia University protests and encampments premieres on Thursday in the United States.
Titled “The Encampments,” the film follows several anti-Israel students involved in the demonstrations, which erupted last year when dozens of students set up tents on Columbia University’s campus to protest Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
After repeated refusals to leave, the NYPD conducted mass arrests of the Columbia protesters. The movement spread to other campuses and sparked debates about free speech, student activism and rising antisemitism at U.S. universities.
The film’s U.S. release date was moved up following controversy surrounding its narrator, former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil, a 30-year-old green card holder and spokesman for the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month.
Officials claim he fraudulently applied to change his immigration status without disclosing “membership in certain organizations,” which they say is grounds for deportation.
Khalil’s arrest is part of broader actions by the Trump administration to crack down on antisemitism and campus unrest. Another Columbia student, a 21-year-old South Korean national, sued President Donald Trump and top administration officials after ICE issued an administrative warrant for her removal. A federal court has temporarily blocked ICE from deporting the student, citing concerns over constitutional rights and government overreach.
Khalil also faces a lawsuit from the families of Israeli hostages, who accuse him and other protest organizers of acting as a Hamas “propaganda arm” on campus.
The lawsuit states, “This case will finally hold these admitted terrorists accountable for their actions. It is time for American campuses to return to being centers for learning and to be saved from relentless occupation by Hamas’ tragically misguided cohorts.”
“The Encampments” had its world premiere in Copenhagen on Tuesday as part of an international documentary festival. The film’s directors, Kei Pritsker and Michael T. Workman, describe it as “a testament to the courage of young people to not only imagine a better world but to fight for it in the face of violence and repression.”
Macklemore, an executive producer, has been vocal in his support of pro-Palestinian groups. The singer, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, was dropped from a Las Vegas festival last year after making anti-American remarks at a “Palestine Will Live Forever” event in Seattle, where he said, “F— America.”
Following the backlash, he apologized on Instagram, writing, “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment.”
The rapper has frequently posted about the Israel-Hamas war and spoke out against Khalil’s detainment by ICE.
“The Encampments” premieres Thursday in New York City, with additional screenings in the coming days before opening in Los Angeles.
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