BOYCOTT

Boycott is available for online streaming on Apple TV, Google Play, Prime Video and Vimeo on Demand.

You can also see our upcoming screenings on our events page. If you'd like to organize a screening of Boycott, see our host a screening page. We also encourage signing up to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on our work and where we will be taking Boycott next.

Anti-boycott laws use the government’s economic leverage to target individuals and companies who engage in boycotts as a form of protest or political expression. These laws remove the legal protection that has been awarded to boycotts for generations, granting governments the power to condition jobs on political viewpoints.

Since 2015, 37 states have passed laws that penalize those engaging in boycotts and other nonviolent measures aimed at pressuring Israel on its human rights record. More recently, states have used these Israel-focused laws as a template for further attacks on the right to protest, by introducing legislation punishing companies that boycott or divest from the fossil fuels and firearms industries. Learn more here.

Boycott was funded through support from dozens of foundations and individuals who believed in us early and supported us at every juncture. We’re grateful for the support of film industry leaders including The Bertha Doc Society Journalism Fund, IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, Sundance Institute, Fork Films, CrossCurrents Foundation, Threshold Foundation, and Perspective Fund. The film was also made possible by longstanding partners who have supported Just Vision’s efforts over the years.

All rights to Boycott are owned by Just Vision. If you're interested in screening the film, please visit our host a screening page to secure the appropriate license. If you are a distributor or sales agent interested in theatrical, broadcast, streaming, VOD or DVD rights, please email us at distribution@justvision.org.

Boycott was made by Just Vision, a team of filmmakers, storytellers, journalists and human rights advocates. It was directed by filmmaker and Just Vision’s Creative Director, Julia Bacha, and produced by Daniel J. Chalfen and Suhad Babaa, who is also Just Vision’s Executive Director and President. The film’s Director of Photography is Amber Fares with additional footage shot by Kelly West. Boycott was edited by Flavia De Souza and Eric Daniel Metzgar.

The filmmakers have a personal relationship to Israel-Palestine, and many of Just Vision’s staff and the team behind Boycott are either from or have lived in the Middle East for significant periods of time. We are all committed to using independent storytelling and strategic audience engagement to build a pluralistic, just and rights-respecting future in Israel-Palestine.

As journalists, filmmakers and human rights advocates who care about freedom of expression and the right to protest, we are alarmed by the extent to which tactics to punish criticism of Israel’s human rights record are being adopted internationally. When our team learned of the first anti-boycott bills passing in state legislatures in the United States in 2015, we started tracking them, recognizing the dangers they pose to those who support Palestinian rights, and to the right to voice dissent more broadly in the US during a time of democratic backsliding.

We began production in the fall of 2018 after several months of development. We shot from the Arizona desert to a mosque in Texas, the ACLU headquarters in New York City and a family farm in Arkansas.    

Boycott premiered at DOC NYC in New York City in November 2021, followed by its international premiere at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London and its Middle East Premiere at Palestine Cinema Days in Ramallah, Palestine. We have since screened at top festivals around the world, in colleges across the country and with community organizers globally. The film is now streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play and Vimeo on Demand, and will have its global broadcast premiere on Al Jazeera in the fall of 2023. 

The community and educational component of Boycott’s impact campaign has engaged and informed key strategic audiences, including students, educators, community groups, state lawmakers, houses of worship and cross-movement allies. To date, we have hosted over 180 events, reaching 10,000+ audience members directly in dozens of states across the U.S., as well as nine countries globally. 

Some highlights include:

• Festival premieres at packed theaters worldwide including our world premiere at DOC NYC, international premiere at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London, SXSW, Big Sky, Sedona International Film Festival, Hot Docs and beyond. 


• Screenings across the Occupied Palestinian Territories at colleges, refugee camps and film festivals that gave audiences insight into legal efforts to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights in the U.S. 


• Screenings with legal experts and civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Knight First Amendment Institute and the National Lawyers Guild.


• Screenings with communities working on environmental, racial and immigration justice as well as reproductive, indigenous and LGBTQ+ rights, including convenings with Greenpeace’s Action Camp, New York Progressive Action Network, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Netroots Nation.


• Targeted screenings and in-depth engagement with local partners in key states where anti-boycott bills have passed or are on the docket, including Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and New York, and working with teams in countries like the UK and Germany where similar anti-boycott legislation has been considered.


• Screening or co-creating resources with dozens of diverse communities engaged on Israel-Palestine, including Palestine Legal, J Street, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, T’ruah, Telos Group, Visualizing Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and many more.  


• Multiple screenings at colleges and universities across the US, including Yale Law School, UC Berkeley, University of Notre Dame, Columbia University, Bard College and many more.

 

For a full list of our past and upcoming screenings, please visit our events page. To organize a screening or event in your community or school, please email: screenings@justvision.org.

Boycott has garnered high-level press coverage in outlets including The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, CNN International, The Washington Post, PBS, MSNBC, The Intercept, Editor & Publisher, Haaretz as well as dozens of national and local newspapers, radio shows and more. Links to a selection of press engagements can be found here.