This screening has gone rush, and tickets are no longer available online. A limited number of tickets may be available at the event. Please contact the Box Office at boxoffice@hotdocs.ca for more information.

On March 8, Palestine solidarity organizer Mahmoud Khalil became the face of the Trump administration’s assault on civil liberties when he was abducted by US federal agents. Still in detention and threatened with deportation, Khalil has been targeted due to his role as a negotiator on behalf of a student group at Columbia University, who, last spring, staged a campus occupation to protest their school’s investments in the US and Israeli arms industries. That protest inspired a wave of campus actions across the world, including the months-long occupation of King’s College Circle here in Toronto. Captured on the Columbia grounds as the students first made their stand, this collaboration between filmmakers Kei Pritzker and Michael Workman is an intimate eyewitness account of a movement that would capture global attention. Prominently featuring Khalil himself, alongside key student organizers and a significant contingent of Jewish allies, The Encampments is 2025’s most urgent documentary: a portrait of courage and conscience that never loses sight of what’s at stake for Gazans under siege.

- Film note by Julian Carrington, For Viola Curator

Includes a post-screening discussion between the filmmakers and For Viola programmer Julian Carrington.

TICKETS

General: FREE

Members: FREE

While this screening is presented free of charge, please consider a donation of $10 in recognition of the value of the work presented, and in honour of Viola Desmond, featured on the $10 banknote, at checkout. Half the proceeds will be shared directly with the filmmakers, who also receive screening fees.

For Viola: Hot Docs' screening series centering Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC)-led stories and filmmakers, named in honour of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond. This series seeks to affirm Hot Docs as a space of inclusion for BIPOC creators and audience members alike. In order to minimize barriers to audience participation, all screenings in this series are free of charge.