Film
Budrus
Budrus follows Ayed Al-Eyan, a Palestinian community organizer who builds an unlikely coalition across political and national lines to prevent a landfill from burying his village. It's a modest, grounded documentary about grassroots resistance—not heroic, but human. For anyone tired of conflict narratives that feel settled, this offers something rarer: people choosing cooperation over recrimination.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you want to see how ordinary people build a nonviolent campaign from the ground up, with the patient organizing and small human moments that a news report would skip.
Skip it if you need a tight narrative or a wide political lens, since this stays close to one village's meetings, arguments and marches and rarely steps back.
What it asks of you: Settle in for seventy minutes of observational footage and meetings, paced slowly and in a sober tone that rarely lifts into drama.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
My Octopus Teacher2020
A filmmaker forms a relationship with an octopus off South Africa's coast. Like Budrus, it's about quiet observation and connection across difference, finding meaning in patient attention to the world around you.
But The pacing is contemplative to the point of slowness. If you want narrative momentum or conventional conflict, this will feel like watching someone think for ninety minutes.
The Act of Killing2012
Indonesian death squad perpetrators recreate their murders on film. It's a stunning exploration of how people live with atrocity—how they reframe it, deny it, almost justify it. Morally urgent in a way few documentaries manage.
But Extremely difficult. It asks you to sit with people who've done terrible things, to understand without forgiving. Some will find that unbearable.
Winter Song2015
Ayed Al-Eyan returns in this quieter follow-up, still organizing, still fighting the same fight. If Budrus moved you, this deepens it without repetition, showing what sustained resistance actually costs.
But It's even smaller than Budrus—less dramatic, less conclusive. Viewers expecting resolution will feel frustrated.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Budrus
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Waltz with Bashir2008
Both made by filmmakers from the region exploring how communities remember and resist conflict; both refuse simple blame, demanding viewers sit with moral complexity.
An Israeli filmmaker investigates his own suppressed memories of Lebanon through animation. It's about conflict, complicity, and what we choose to remember. Animated documentary about the same region, asking similar questions about violence and accountability.
But Stylized and abstract—some find animation distancing in the context of real trauma. The ending is jarring by design, which some experience as manipulative.
More like this (8)
Citizenfour2014
Laura Poitras documents Edward Snowden's NSA revelations in real time. Like Budrus, it captures people acting on principle in circumstances where the system seems immovable. Urgent and tense where Budrus is quiet.
But Heavy with technical detail and geopolitical stakes. It rewards focus but can feel dense if you're not already engaged with surveillance politics.
The True Cost2015
An investigation into fast fashion's human cost, following activists and workers fighting exploitation. Same DNA as Budrus—ordinary people organizing for dignity against entrenched systems.
But The first half is better argued than the second. Some segments feel more like advocacy than inquiry, which can blunt the impact.
13th2016
Ava DuVernay traces how mass incarceration became America's tool of racial control. Rigorous and furious. Where Budrus is intimate, this is systemic—but both ask how we resist structures built to resist us.
But The scope can feel overwhelming. So much injustice in two hours means something always feels compressed or incomplete.
Another Year2010
Mike Leigh's quiet film about a secure middle-class couple and their struggling friend. Not a documentary, but it has Budrus's patience with how people actually are—no villains, just friction.
But Nothing happens. Some find that realistic; others find it tedious. The film moves at the speed of a cup of tea.
Honeyland2019
Shot over three years in North Macedonia, it follows an elderly beekeeper. Pure observation cinema—people, land, work, time. Hypnotic if you let it be. Shares Budrus's faith in watching rather than explaining.
But Plotless and long. Bees, repetition, silence. If you need a story, you won't find one.
A Syrian Love Story2015
A couple separated by the Syrian conflict, told through video calls and news footage. Intimate where Budrus is communal, but both find humanity in impossibly constrained circumstances.
But The relationship feels slightly distant—we see them but don't hear them speak much. It can feel like watching through glass.
La Haine1995
Both show young people organizing or resisting systems that grind them down; both refuse to make them heroes, just humans pushed to act.
Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film follows three young men in a Paris housing project after a riot, in black and white. About surveillance, injustice, and men with nothing to lose. Fictional where Budrus is documentary, but the anger is real.
But Stylistically mannered—spinning cameras, tight framing, music video energy. Feels dated if you're not already on its wavelength. Some find the cool more important than the compassion.
Sami Blood2017
Both explore what it costs to resist, whether through collective action or individual survival; both honor the specificity of place and culture under pressure.
A Sami girl in 1950s Sweden tries to escape her indigenous identity through assimilation. Quiet, devastating film about erasure and resistance. Where Budrus shows a community fighting for survival, this shows one person surviving erasure.
But Slow and interior. It's about psychological damage as much as injustice. Some find that depressing rather than liberating.
People
Directing
- Julia BachaDirector
Writing
- Julia BachaWriter
Production
- Julia BachaProducer
- Ronit AvniProducer
- Rula SalamehProducer