The US college encampment protests were a defining news event of 2024. The pro-Palestinian anti-war demonstrations that swept across American universities captured the world’s attention and seemed to either rile or resonate with onlookers globally. A demand that US educational institutions cut all financial ties to Israel had become the US’s biggest student-led movement in half a century and brought with it impossible-to-ignore ramifications for US politics and foreign policy.
As Al Jazeera’s digital documentary strand, we knew that we had to not merely document it but make a way for our audiences to feel like they were experiencing it. Our goal was to provide a first-person perspective from inside the movement, following someone ‘in the thick of it’ who had a compelling story to tell, who was relatable, who was genuine and humanly ‘flawed’, who was an authentic voice among the protesters and who was motivated by the pursuit of positive change.
To maximize engagement on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, we strategically edited and published our film in a vertical format. This not only aligned with the nature of social media consumption but also allowed us to connect with audiences in a more immediate and intimate way, capturing the urgency of the protests and the powerful story unfolding in real time.
As is so often the case with breaking news, our strategy has to be formulated quickly so we can respond to events as they unfold. We wanted to focus on New York and find a case study in the city where the movement first sprung up, and so, we immediately deployed a local crew to Manhattan where crowds were gathering and where police had begun to block streets to prevent marchers from proceeding.
Setting out to produce a film like this invites a set of challenges. Chief among them is the unpredictability of how things will unfold, as well as the risk of physical injury when filming amidst an impassioned crowd. Our cameraman was pepper sprayed in the face during one of the shoot days, for instance. Our crew was also prevented by law enforcement from entering Columbia University’s Morningside campus as events came to a head there, requiring us to formulate a new plan.
One unexpected difficulty we faced was the suspicion and skepticism from the student protesters themselves about the media and their fear over how they would be portrayed and whether they would be misrepresented and ultimately vilified. Finding a protest participant who was willing to be filmed over multiple days was a true obstacle. Through perseverance, our breakthrough came when we locked in our central character, through whose eyes we experience NYPD’s crackdown on protesters and who reveals just how high the stakes are for all those who speak out.
We hoped to provide a compelling front-row seat into the immense wave of campus protests sweeping the United States in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Through crafting a riveting narrative that feels urgent, dramatic, and earnest, we achieved our objective and amplified a voice seeking to make positive change through peaceful activism.
The film’s impact was tangible in terms of social engagement and viewer response. On Instagram, it quickly garnered more than 1M views, 90k likes, 13k shares, and 7.5k saves, making it one of Close Up’s strongest-performing documentaries. A similar resonance was seen in performance across other platforms, reaching a combined 800k views on X, Facebook, and YouTube. What truly affirmed our belief that we achieved our goals was the response gleaned from more than 4,000 comments that expressed deep appreciation for our thoughtful approach.
We felt the film confirmed Close Up’s working hypothesis that audiences crave raw, personal stories that take viewers deeper than the headlines and allow them to ‘feel’ a news event as it's unfolding in real time. The success of the film’s vertical version on Instagram and Facebook demonstrated that audiences have an appetite to consume much longer vertical content on their phones than is typically assumed, as long as the storytelling is compelling and the piece contributes to a topic already at the forefront of digital consumers’ minds. We’re convinced we pulled that off with ‘University Uprising for Gaza’ and humbly submit it for the Shorty Impact Awards.
