Release
The release of The Encampments was pushed up due to the detention of Khalil by ICE and Columbia's expulsion of Miner. [8]
The film had its world premiere at CPH:DOX on March 25, 2025. [12] [13] It debuted in New York City at the Angelika Film Center, with sold-out screenings on March 27–29. [6]
On April 30, 2025, organizers with Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA attempted to screen the film for 200 people on campus but were moved around several times by police. One protester was arrested for assault earlier in the day. Around 9 p.m., two protesters were detained and filming equipment was confiscated. About 150 protesters then continued to march around the area until 10:50 p.m. [14]
Reception
In a review for IndieWire , Siddhant Adlakha praised The Encampments for "its sense of contemporary and historical detail, owed to both footage shot by the filmmakers, as well as by the protesters themselves." He compared it favorably to the documentary October 8 in its use of archival images to provide appropriate historical context. [15]
A review in the Columbia Daily Spectator called the film a "testament to the strength of the community born within the student-led pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, and how hope and belief can grow, even in the face of institutional backlash" that offers an "insightful and intimate look into what happened within the gates, well beyond mainstream coverage." [16]
According to the online arts magazine Hyperallergic , The Encampments "extricates the movement from the grips of mainstream and conservative media narratives and places it back in the hands of its organizers." [17]
Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post wrote, "The film's vibe of harmony—at least inside the encampment, where leaders claim antisemitism had no home—seems more than a little stage-managed, if not whitewashed", noting "a kernel of truth" in that a "surprising number of Jews" took part in the protests. [18]
In an interview between Pritsker and pro-Israel influencer Hen Mazzig published by The Hollywood Reporter , Mazzig said that the film served to "tokenize" the "fringe community" of anti-Zionist Jews "and weaponize it against us". Pritsker said the encampments were nonviolent. When asked by Mazzig about a 2014 incident in which Macklemore "had Jewface on at a concert", Pritsker said he was unaware of the incident but "just looked it up briefly and it looks like he apologized for it. It sounds like he made a mistake, and I believe in people's capacity to grow and apologize". [19]
At the CPH:DOX award ceremony in Copenhagen, the Human:Rights jury awarded The Encampments a special mention. [20]
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