Producers: Kei Pritsker, Michael T Workman, Munir Atalla, Matthew Belen, Macklemore

The Encampments is a groundbreaking documentary that chronicles the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment and the international wave of student activism it ignited. Through exclusive footage and intimate interviews, The Encampments provides an unprecedented look at one of the most significant student movements in modern history. The film captures the passion, resilience, and challenges faced by students who risked everything to demand justice. The Encampments examines why universities responded with mass arrests and force rather than engagement and dialogue, and it sheds light on the institutions’ efforts to suppress student activism. In doing so, it offers a deeper understanding of both the power and the costs of grassroots movements.

The Columbia encampment began in April 2024 when nearly 50 students pitched tents on university grounds, beginning an occupation that would grow into a nationwide protest movement. The documentary follows the dramatic escalation, from Columbia’s administration banning student organizations for Palestine to the mass arrests that broke a 50-year police ban on campus. 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 documentary includes access to the student organizers at several encampments, and also a whistleblower from high-up in the administration of an Ivy League university who shares exclusive insights into what was taking place within the halls of the ivory tower as students protested down below.

Executive Produced by Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore, the film is directed by Kei Pritsker, a journalist and producer at BreakThrough News, and award-winning filmmaker Michael T. Workman (Meantime).