Fastcompany iconFastcompanyJul 30, 2026 ~1 min source read

Hollywood was too afraid to distribute this movie. So the director built her own company and did it herself

Willowy and effervescent, she greeted me with the air of an old friend, though we had only connected once before. Her identity as a Palestinian-American has long influenced how she approached film, eventually leading her to direct, write, and produce the 2025 drama All That's Left of You.

Hollywood was too afraid to distribute this movie. So the director built her own company and did it herself

Share this story

Send the public story page.

Useful takeaways from this story.

Willowy and effervescent, she greeted me with the air of an old friend, though we had only connected once before.

Her identity as a Palestinian-American has long influenced how she approached film, eventually leading her to direct, write, and produce the 2025 drama All That's Left of You.

Executive produced by Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, the historic drama—which follows the lives of one Palestinian family over 75 years—premiered last year at the Sundance Film Festival.

Building the complete brief

The page is ready to read now. The fuller skim-friendly version will appear here automatically.

The useful part

Willowy and effervescent, she greeted me with the air of an old friend, though we had only connected once before. Her identity as a Palestinian-American has long influenced how she approached film, eventually leading her to direct, write, and produce the 2025 drama All That's Left of You. Executive produced by Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, the historic drama—which follows the lives of one Palestinian family over 75 years—premiered last year at the Sundance Film Festival.

How it works

  • Despite the recognition, the subject matter was deemed too risky for Hollywood, and Dabis was unable to find a distributor.
  • To Dabis, it was a familiar kind of rejection: one that hid its reasoning behind corporate jargon when it...

Details worth keeping

Emmy nominations, a Peabody Award, and a Tribeca Film Festival award. It was honored at multiple film festivals, including at San Francisco International Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival, and it even made the Oscars consideration shortlist for Best International Feature Film, selected by Jordan, where it was partially filmed.

Keep reading in the app

Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.

Open in app