The Palestine Exception team is proud to announce that our film is being distributed by Palestinian-owned Watermelon Pictures. We are honored that they have chosen our project for their library of deeply meaningful and moving films. We encourage you to support the mission of Watermelon Pictures with a subscription to Watermelon+.
The Palestine Exception is a searing and unflinchingly honest account of what it means to stand for something, and the immense consequences of speaking up. This is a vital documentary for our present moment, but also a terrifying look at how institutional power has always tried – and will always try – to enforce silence on every last one of its critics.
– Omar El Akkad, Novelist and Journalist, Author of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Ellen Schrecker is an American historian and author who has written extensively about McCarthyism and American higher education.
Her latest book, The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s, to be published by the University of Chicago Press in December 2021, provides the first comprehensive analysis of American higher education’s most turbulent decade. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard, taught there and at NYU and Princeton, before ending up at Yeshiva University from which she retired as a full professor.
Jennifer Gaboury is an off-tenure-track, full-time lecturer, currently serving as an adviser for the department. She was trained as a political theorist at UC Santa Cruz, the New School for Social Research, and CUNY Graduate Center. Her work is related to issues of masculinities, feminisms, and politics; she is currently working on a project related to race and sex segregation in public bathroom facilities. She has served on the boards of CLAGS and Alternatives to Marriage Project, and has been a member of the Advisory Committee for the LGBT Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. In another life, she worked for Madre and Human Rights Watch.
Judith Butler is an American philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory.
In 1993, Butler began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where they have served, beginning in 1998, as the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory. They are also the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School (EGS).
Butler is best known for their books Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex (1993), in which they challenge conventional, heteronormative notions of gender and develop their theory of gender performativity. This theory has had a major influence on feminist and queer scholarship. Their work is often studied and debated in film studies courses emphasizing gender studies and performativity.
Butler has spoken on many contemporary political questions, including Israeli politics and in support of LGBT rights.
Nadasen is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians and serves on the scholarly advisory committee of the New York Historical Society's Center for Women's History. She is past president of the National Women’s Studies Association and was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Oxford University in 2019. She is the 2020 inaugural recipient of the Ann Snitow Prize for outstanding feminist activist and intellectual work.
Professor Nadasen has bridged academic and activist work by making her scholarship accessible to people outside the university. She has been a museum consultant, has written op-eds for newspapers and on-line outlets, and served as expert witness before the New York State Assembly Committee on Labor as well as the federal Department of Labor. She collaborated with the Institute for Policy Studies and the National Domestic Workers Alliance on the “We Dream in Black Project” to mobilize Black domestic workers in the South.
Saree Makdisi is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA. His teaching and research span British Romanticism, imperial culture, colonial and postcolonial theory, and urban modernity, particularly focusing on the contested urban spaces of London, Beirut, and Jerusalem. Nephew of the acclaimed Palestinian academic Edward Said, he has written extensively on the afterlives of colonialism in the contemporary Arab world. His recent book, Tolerance is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial (2022), underscores his commitment to Palestinian justice, placing him at the forefront of the movement in academia.
Faculty Educator, National Nurses United/Program in Women's Health and Global Leadership
Ted has a deep connection to his Palestinian heritage through the artwork of his father and hearing stories from his relatives. He is a professor of management & strategy at Portland State University and a visiting professor at Vlerick Business School in Belgium. His research and teaching focus on the role of institutions in entrepreneurship and innovation, particularly within developing countries, refugee and diaspora communities, and nascent markets. Dr. Khoury has consulted for the European Commission on entrepreneurship interventions and education reform throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, and Morocco. He also supports the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in African diaspora entrepreneurship programs and trains NGOs in humanitarian and development interventions.
Director and Producer
Jan Haaken is professor emeritus of psychology at Portland State University, a clinical psychologist, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her documentary films focus on work carried out in contested social spaces and in sites of political controversy. Haaken has directed nine feature films, including most recently the 2-part NECESSITY Series: “Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance” and “Climate Justice & the Thin Green Line,” released in 2023, and “ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE: The False Promise of a Nuclear Renaissance,” completed in 2023. Haaken is author of Pillar of Salt: Gender, Memory, and the Perils of Looking Back, Hard Knocks: Domestic Violence and the Psychology of Storytelling and Psychiatry, Politics, and PTSD: Breaking Down and co-editor of Memory Matters: Understanding Recollections of Sexual Abuse.
Director
Jennifer Ruth is a professor of film studies at Portland State University. She writes extensively about academic freedom and higher education in outlets such as The New Republic, Truthout, Academe, Academe blog, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, LA Review of Books and Ms. She is the author of one book and the co-author, with Michael Bérubé, of two – The Humanities, Higher Education, and Academic Freedom: Three Necessary Arguments and It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom. She is the co-editor, with Valerie Johnson and Ellen Schrecker, of The Right to Learn; Resisting the Right-Wing War on Academic Freedom.
Producer
Marlene Eid, graduate of the Sorbonne university, in Paris, is a psychology faculty at Portland Community College (PCC). Marlene is a Palestinian American born and reared in East Jerusalem, where she grew up under Israeli military occupation. She is a lifelong advocate of Palestinian human rights, and a defender of social justice issues.
Previous to PCC, Marlene worked at Portland State University (PSU), where in addition to teaching psychology and women studies, she worked as the coordinator of Arab Studies at the Middle East Studies Center.
In 1990, Marlene traveled to the Gaza Strip and was one of the founding members of the "Gaza Community Mental Health Program". While establishing the first mental health program in the Gaza city, she developed a play therapy program for the children, training programs for the working team, and mental health training for UNRWA clinic doctors. Marlene worked with international agencies such as World Health Organization, United Nations, International governmental and non governmental agencies, and local Institutions in Gaza.
In 2015 Marlene founded, and was the first president of PCRF, Palestine Children's Relief Fund, chapter in Portland, Oregon. The program provided medical care and prosthetic limbs to Palestinian children with difficult cases where care could not be provided otherwise.
Associate Producer
Kevin Foster is a journalist and multimedia professional. He focuses on marginalized voices at the intersection of politics and social justice, covering topics including labor organizing, election interference, local activism, and the struggles of migrants and asylum seekers.
Associate Producer
Samantha (Sam) is a queer, latine documentary filmmaker and researcher based in Portland, OR. Her most recent projects include the feature-length documentary Atomic Bamboozle (Producer), the series Necessity: Oil, Water & Climate Resistance (Co-director), Necessity: Climate Justice & the Thin Green Line (Co-director), and Our Bodies Our Doctors (Assistant Director).
Outreach Associate
Hannah Alzgal is a community educator, anti-militarism organizer, storyteller and alum of Portland State University. As a PSU student, she co-founded Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER) in 2022. She is part of the media collective, We Rise Production Team, and featured as a student activist in The Palestine Exception film.
Editor
Jeff is a multidisciplinary filmmaker with an emphasis in post-production. When he’s not writing, planning, shooting or splicing he enjoys hiking in the abundance that is the PNW with his wife, two growing daughters and overly affectionate Boston Terrier, Zuri. He also loves good food and bad puns.
Principal Cinematographer
Timothy Wildgoose is an Emmy award winning cinematographer focusing on vérité documentary and branded content for social good. His diverse body of work has screened everywhere from festivals around the world to the Super Bowl. Pulling from a deep well of empathy, he is drawn to intimate, character-driven stories that bridge divides and evoke emotion.
Graphic Designer & Motion Artist
Matt is an experienced designer in print, web, and film. He enjoys the challenge to concept an idea into impactful graphics, animation and even set design establishing a brand to be remembered. Aside from his career you will either find Matt creating fine woodwork in his shop or deep in the wilderness where you can’t find him.
Cinematographer
Born and raised in Vermont, Ben Bach grew up surrounded by art - his mother was a painter and his father was an amateur photographer. As a teenager, Ben was lucky enough to take classes in 35mm film photography where he fell in love with the dark room, film, and the creation of images.
Since 2003, Ben has created a body of work that spans fiction and nonfiction, commercial and experimental. He is constantly working to refine his craft- studying, practicing and experimenting. He takes great pleasure in collaborating with dedicated, thoughtful directors, producers and crew to create work that draws in the audience. His favorite moment on set is watching through the eyepiece as an actor brings a performance that transforms our world into a new one.
Some of the work he is most proud of include the feature ‘Why Dig When You Can Pluck’ which premiered in competition at BAFICI, the music video ‘Fantasy In Terms of Liberation’ for musician and performance artist Jewlz which has won awards for Best Cinematography and Best Original Concept, the Telly Award winning Documentary ‘The Ghosts They Carry’ about PTSD in the first responder community, and the pandemic themed dance film ‘How We Live’ which won Best Dance Film at Toronto Experimental Dance & Music Festival. He also has numerous commercial credits for companies like Gatorade, Intel, Sephora, Yamaha, Michael Kors, and Estee Lauder.
Mentorship and teaching have long been a part of Ben’s career as well. He has worked as a teacher and mentor of film through the BIZProgram, a nonprofit which prepares youth in the Portland Metro area for jobs in the music and film industry, as well as Outside the Frame, a nonprofit that works with homeless and marginalized youth to tell their stories through film. He currently resides in Portland, OR with his wife Cambria, son Forrest, and dog Vida."
Cinematographer
Morgan is an award winning Brooklyn-based filmmaker with fifteen years of professional experience. His passion is telling stories that build empathy and incite action towards a healthier and more just planet Earth. Morgan’s documentary work has aired on PBS, MTV and Viceland. In 2017, he founded the full-service production company Little Human Media. Morgan lives with his partner Katie, his son Theo as well as Frankie the Cat.
