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I was invited to be a guest on the Dialectical House Party podcast. It has been a fascinating conversation to really get to the heart of the purpose of the film, and where we need to start formulating a deeper media analysis.
- Samantha
My third episode on the Film Conversations Podcast with Dennis and Dwayne. Not a typical film review, but a discussion of the political economy and current branding of Hollywood Spectacle cinema. The recent version of the Odyssey presents an insightful case study, not just of the film experience in itself, but the social promotion of it.
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Story craft in Hollywood style filmmaking is a constructed mechanism and characters serve as specific devices within it.
Representation and narrative allegory are not sufficient areas of analysis to identify what is being internalized. We need to look at the blue print of the film and how character devices are positioned within it.
https://www.studio-technique.com/blog/2026/1/21/character-amp-story-tip-interpersonal-relationships
https://www.studio-technique.com/blog/2025/11/30/animation-tip-emotional-range
I had the immense honour to join the Film Conversations Podcast. I really enjoyed this conversation (first of many!). It was fun to talk about my career with the analysis this podcast always brings to film. Film Conversations is also available on most podcast streaming services.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Back for MAKC’s Imperial 80s film critique discussing Return of the Jedi
Article on the Voice of Hind Rajab by Samantha Youssef:
https://www.studio-technique.com/blog/2026/2/4/politics-in-academy-and-film
Media Literacy Follow-Up Conversation with Saturday’s with Renee
Article on the Voice of Hind Rajab by Samantha Youssef:
https://www.studio-technique.com/blog/2026/2/4/politics-in-academy-and-film
“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” - Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
Here is my commentary after sitting through this film — a film that never once mentions the word Palestine, never once criticises Israel, purposefully left out the recordings and forensic evidence where Hind was killed in cold blood, framing her death as though it was an accidental tragedy, emphasising her family is situated in Germany and avoided addressing why they were in Gaza, implying that they accidentally wandered into a “restricted war zone" that they were not meant to be in. Not once addressed Israel or the IOF, they only said "armies". The only time they used the word “Israel” was to coordinate with Israel who was portrayed as benevolently handling the rescue missions that the Palestinian Red Crescent is portrayed as incompetent to manage without them. This is a form of history-revisionism, and needs to be critiqued in how it is placed in the current historic context (see Cedric Robinsons’ critical scholarship). This film also takes advantage of grieving families who are persuaded to participate in the hopes of their loss being used for some good, which we have also seen in projects like The Perfect Neighbor. Hind’s family has put their approval behind many other films and documentaries about this tragedy to help spread awareness, including a Palestian-Jordanian production, which also coordinated with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
UN Security Council Session
https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-hind-rajab
* Edit: I will have to follow up with a proper coded analysis to inform audiences of all the structural problems and obfuscation in this film. This is not just about putting forward a subjective opinion on narrative allegory, but an analysis based on the use of the editing and directing techniques used in this film, that are materially grounded and researched in how they are used to frame audience perception. We witness how techniques are employed in Western media reporting and headlines to obscure the truth — films also employ shaping strategies. Why are we critical of Western news outlets for selective narrative and omission, yet accept it in film? I am putting out these concerns based on professional education and experience, and backed by academic scholarship. We need to understand better what we stand behind. If what we are supporting contributes to harm, then I believe we should have a better understanding of what we are supporting.
Edit (03/04/2026) Watch the conversation & analysis with Dr. Jared Ball.
Now that I have seen the propaganda piece The Voice of Hind Rajab, here is what I need to say:
If you support this film, you are not an ally to Palestinians. You are not an ally to oppressed people.
This film is about saviourism, history revisionism, and those who are concerned about appearing as a saviour while still wanting to be included in oppressor circles. If you are Palestinian and support this film, you really need to look at yourself and what colonial logics you have internalised*, especially if you are in the diaspora.
Shame on everyone who supports and profits off this film and exploitation of Hind. For all the reasons I posted months ago (see below) when I addressed what to consider around this film, actually sitting through this propaganda really shows how the world CHOOSES to package Palestine.
Shame on everyone that allows this film to contribute to the attempts at our erasure through liberal-zionist logics, and for overshadowing the films that are made by Palestinians — as it was clearly intended to do. Instead of films like Palestine 36 or All That’s Left of You, this film is made to ensure they don’t get placement in awards ceremonies and the platforming that brings. This film is for colonisers to feel better about themselves while they push our films to the side.
— Samantha Youssef
I made this post in September 2025 on social media and will share it here. I had not seen the film yet, but these are comments based on what was publicly available at the time.
https://deadline.com/2025/08/brad-pitt-joaquin-phoenix-join-gaza-movie-voice-hind-rajab-1236498170/
September 6, 2025.
The Voice of Hind Rajab is a highly problematic film.
To give you some background on where I am positioning this information, I started at Disney and have been working for over two decades in Hollywood. I work as an artistic & animation consultant/director on both animated and blockbuster feature films, advising in a small circle with the directors and executive producers. Check out the IG video essay on Superman.
This film mimics campaigns designed towards upholding imperial soft power structures and Hollywood-washing. Hollywood is trying to co-opt the Pro-Palestine movement (we already know that there is an increase in the propaganda budget for 2025) and there is a massive campaign around coopting and commodifying this. Hollywood is not an isolated actor on the political stage, it is part of an apparatus that cooperates with news media, music, and sports industries, among many other cultural structures. Likewise, directors and actors are not independent contractors, they are employees of agencies that are also corporate organisations.
Some useful points to consider:
This film is promoted by White, neo-liberal, Democrat-supporting, Hollywood heavy-weights, who are only speaking out since Trump was in office (for those following this phenomenon, this is a conversation on its own). They are commodifying Palestinian tragedy and rewriting themselves on the right side of history.
Brad Pitt is also part of/represented by CAA**, a publicly pro-Israeli agency which made a public statement in support of Israel. Those critical of Israel had to resign from the agency. (https://variety.com/2023/film/news/caa-maha-dakhil-resigns-board-israel-social-media-posts-controversy-1235764577/ )
It’s also important to ask why are they all White liberal faces on the promotion of this project and not one Palestinian directing creative? Casting actors does not help, none of the directing, or decision-making roles appear to have a single Palestinian.
Hollywood films (these can also be called First and Second Cinema - for more information look up Third Cinema) are funded by the CIA and Pentagon. Please read the peer reviewed scholarship by Alford & Secker, Lenoir, Der Derian, Stahl, Mirrlees. (American Journal of Economics and Sociology by Matthew Alford and Tom Secker is available here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajes.12180 )
On Hollywood affiliated productions, directors are not the conceptualisers of the films. Directors and writers are hired by someone else to create a predetermined film. They are picked to appeal to targeted audiences (mainly Americans). Understanding this logic we can see how a Tunisian director from a France-based studio that tours Cannes is an ideal candidate to be sought out for this role, mainly because they are not Palestinian. This: 1) Further distances and orientalises Palestinian voices. 2) All Arabs are the same for their purposes and audiences, and someone more “politically palatable” is preferable.
This film contributes to ensuring that the famous events of the G-cide are remembered, shaped and curated in cultural memory that is in the form that Western interests want.
These films pacify resistance by neutralising radical ideas through narrative justifications, commodify it, and shape the story to uphold American value systems like American exceptionalism and hyper individualised hero-stories. These are key narrative structures that the imperial apparatus wants in films; the CIA is content to prioritise this even at the expense of making the government look bad, because the core idealogical messaging that must be put through offers more value laden returns for hegemony (see Alford & Secker).
One last thing, because they did the same thing with the Black Panther franchise (using Oakland) and Andor (referencing the Battle of Algiers). We need to ask why choose Hind's story? Why not another? These references they use are the most accessible. They go to the easiest access that they think will hold the largest audience impact. They also want to co-opt any narratives that might cause people to start asking questions and reshape history by re-situating the context of these narratives in a way that favours the imperial violence that the US upholds. Because Hind was known among White circles due to Hind's Hall at Columbia University, this was the story that created cracks in the colonial mainstream narrative. This is a common strategy historically repeated, and there is a long paper trail of receipts on these tactics as well.
We also need to ask if these people like Brad Pitt and co. are so altruistic, why aren't they speaking out against the G-cide? why aren't they speaking out about how their studios and industry help R&D and propaganda for the US military? Their promotion of this film aligned with the events of the Freedom Flotilla, where even other celebrities were on the ground supporting it. Why aren't they getting on the flotilla or seeing it off? Even better, why aren't they using their own personal yachts, or the yachts of their society friends to join the flotilla? Why aren't they investing in sending aid to Gaza through its borders? For perspective, the funding given to this film will cost more than the millions of dollars in weapons that Canada just sent to Israel. Why aren't they doing something of material significance to people in Gaza with their money? Instead they are investing in an all White promoted production, hiring a Tunisian employee, and profiting off it. Why are these White company-men owned by pro-Israeli agencies being the ones to be the faces of a Palestinian story and not use their voices to uplift any Palestinians to tell their stories? There are Palestinian screen writers, directors, etc. in the US, as well as in Palestine and other countries.
More importantly, and I know I'm being a bit blunt, but as a directing creative on the inside, I have witnessed how effective our work has been on influencing the average person. How visceral and emotional the push back can be from the audiences that we filmmakers — essentially — dupe. When you work at high levels on the inside, it’s very different to what the public thinks it is, and I am constantly astounded at how much people believe in these productions or what we choose to reveal as "behind the scenes". So if there is a knee-jerk response in anyone to be immediately excited about this, or jumps on board to defend or celebrate it without questioning, I think this is what we have to work on unravelling in ourselves and in our socialisation. There is no legitimate logic behind this behaviour when it is interrogated. There is, however, ample documentation in scholarship and journalism that illustrates how, since WW1, and especially WW2, Hollywood is America's greatest soft power asset. What needs to be interrogated is why do we even think figures like these Hollywood celebrities have anything of value to contribute morally or intellectually, and why do we rely on, and promote, their approval. This reflects poorly on us as a whole, the celebrity obsession reflects how easily we are persuaded.
It’s a really depressing testament to how good we are at our jobs that people are so desperate to have their story told by this system that they will promote it.
At ‘best” this film is racist, at worst it is sinister and nefarious.
— Samantha Youssef
Additional added notes:
* Understand what is legally defined as anti-Palestinian racism https://antipalestinianracism.org/, here is the full legal report.
** France billionaire, Francois-Henri Pigault, completed the acquisition of a majority stake in CAA in September 2023. Tanit Films is a France based studio. CAA is the official North American distributor of the film The Voice of Hind Rajab.
Meet Haneen Koraz, Nour A-Jawad, and the animation storytellers of Gaza. The people of Gaza, the children, the men, the women, have inspiring stories to tell through what they create through their films, and what they create through the spaces and programs that they build.
You can support the children and the teachers through their Patreon page.
https://www.patreon.com/c/AnimationStories
You can also donate here:
Animation Stories - Your support will help:
• Keep dreams alive: Sustain weekly animation workshops where children craft entire worlds frame by frame, breath by breath.
• Feed the imagination: Provide access to the simplest tools—paper, pencils, plasticine—that become portals to self-expression.
• Foster survival through expression: In a world trying to erase Palestinian voices, storytelling becomes resistance—and art, a lifeline.
• Build a safe space for the spirit: A makeshift studio in Gaza where children animate not only characters but their futures.
• Bridge worlds: By keeping Haneen, her team, and her students connected to an international community of artists, mentors, and believers, we’re creating powerful art and an unprecedented living archive.
This is not charity - this is a shared act of imagination, defiance, and love.
I hope these conversations will help the general public understand what we are coding in animated and blockbuster feature films. Additionally, I appeal to my colleagues in the industry to start asking the questions that I know you never ask. Please start engaging critically.
Encoding Empire on Black Liberation Media
Encoding Empire Part 2 on iMWiL
Graduate Dissertation:
Encoding Empire: How Black Panther Manufactures Consent for Imperialism Among Oppressed Groups - Graduate Dissertation
https://www.academia.edu/143503421/Encoding_Empire_How_Black_Panther_Manufactures_Consent_for_Imperialism_Among_Oppressed_Groups
Samantha Youssef on iMWiL!
https://www.youtube.com/@imixwhatilikejaredball/search?query=Samantha
Samantha Youssef on Saturdays with Renee (Black Liberation Media)
Samantha Youssef on Millennials are Killing Capitalism
True Hollywood Stories on the Military Industrial Complex Featuring Samantha Youssef
Is ‘The Perfect Neighbour’ A New Form of Copaganda? with Renee Johnston & Samantha Youssef
The Empire Strikes Back Featuring Samantha Youssef | The Imperial 80's Episode 27
Return of the Jedi with Samantha Youssef | The Imperial '80s Episode 39
Mtume Gant Within Our Gates
https://www.patreon.com/Tumes
Because the film industry is largely responsible for the collective conditioning that prevents us from taking action. I see people wondering why no one is doing anything to stop the G-cide and I hope if we can be aware of the social conditioning, it can help wake us up.
I honestly don’t know what more to say anymore, but I will still try to do what I can and offer some insight that might help shift awareness.
This video came about because I saw how effective this film has been in co-opting people who are critical thinkers, and I was asked by a lot of people what my thoughts were - given my background.
I hope this will engage conversations, and spread awareness, so we can imagine a better future for all of us, and how we can create art and culture that is not complicit in imperialist agendas.
Please share and help educate! Comment on the IG video if you would like to see more on these topics or looking at other projects.
If you’d like some sources to get you started on topics discussed, check out the literature and scholarship by: Edward Said, Stuart Hall, Roger Stahl, Tim Lenoir, Luke Caldwell, Tanner Mirrlees, Matthew Alford, Tom Secker, Gabriel Rockhill, DerDerian, Aaron Franz , bel hooks, Robert McChesney, Ali Kadri.
If you feel more people could benefit from this video, pick your social media poison and please share!:
I was invited to be in conversation with Peter and Jen at Revolutionary Change. From Superman to animation to geo-politics, we discuss a bit of everything! Thank you Revolutionary Change for inviting me to talk and spend some time with you.
Have you heard about Haneen Koraz’s animation studio? You can see the beautiful work here: https://www.instagram.com/animator_haneen
Haneen Koraz is an award-winning animation director and mentor from Gaza. Despite the on going genocide in Palestine, she has created a space of light and creativity, working with children and young artists to create animated films to share their stories to the world.
She has been active in supporting hand crafted animation, and is at the forefront of this endeavour creating art divorced from industrialism. I really want to bring attention to this. For those of us in the animation industry, there are so many conversations about coming back to understanding the artistry behind hand crafted animation production before CG intervention. The work Haneen is doing is exactly that. She is holding onto an art form that Western animators are always lamenting the loss of. This is a genuine love of a craft that I believe has been dwindling in the spaces where animation is the most funded, yet least creative.
Her efforts not only preserve Palestinian voices but also inspire global conversations about resilience and the universal power of storytelling. The work she is doing is incredibly inspiring, and demonstrates how to realign ourselves as artists and storytellers, and not industry technicians.
I don’t want to speak too much for Hanaan, I’ll put forward a quote to share her own words. Please support her, and amplify her work:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-haneen-koraz-empower-voices-through-art
“In the Presence of Imagination, I Forget the War
When a child chooses a story, my role as a director and trainer is to help shape it—to make it clearer, richer in detail, and closer to their soul. We don’t have boards to explain things, so we write on the walls. These walls witness the birth of small dreams growing amid the rubble.
In these moments, I find my happiness.
I forget the war.
I forget the bombings.
I forget everything that frightens and breaks me.
I forget the dark images the future paints in my mind.
In the animation workshops, I return to myself—to my passion, to my boundless imagination.
Despite everything, the children of Gaza still have the power to dream.
These children don’t just need aid—they need to be heard.
They need moments of joy, of hope, of life.
They need the chance to glimpse a better world, even if only through a sheet of paper, a pencil, and a story.”
- Haneen Koraz
Samantha Youssef has been invited to host a webinar as part of the Safina Filmmaker Project on Saturday, January 25th. This workshop will offer a "behind the scenes" insight into the creative process of feature film character-driven animation and the artistic journey of bringing characters to life on the big screen. Samantha will share some insight into the unique work she does spanning across VFX and feature animation, from art direction to animation direction.
Click here for more info and other great workshops!
Who are we as artists in animation?
Do we do it for the love of humanity? For the pursuit of “Universal Human Truths” that we strive for in our storytelling? What does that mean?
Or do we do this so that we can be awarded a credit by the animation industry? Do we do it to identify with a fan culture? Perhaps as a means of getting praise or followers from fellow fans? Who is the audience representing the opinions you worry about?
For myself, being an artist in this medium was a pursuit of putting art out there that inspired and connected with the hearts of people…. As I was inspired by it when I was younger. Creating inspirational work that touches upon our humanity is what drove me and inspired me.
Today we are faced with a crisis of humanity. There is a genocide happening in Palestine, and the animation industry is directly associated with it.
As artists, we have a beautiful gift, that of imagination…. Which can allow us to empathize, its our job to understand deeper stories and ask questions about what motivates our characters… to imagine outside of systemic structures that have been set up to dehumanize and marginalize. When we are silent, we need to ask ourselves, who is the audience of our silence? Who benefits from it? Are we artists exclusively for the opinions of an industrial complex, or are we artists because we want to connect our common humanity?
Just some food for thought….
Hello everyone!
Recently I was interviewed by industry leaders Brent George (former animation director at WB Games) and David Hubert (former animation supervisor at Dreamworks) on the Agora Community Site. We covered a lot of interesting topics about the technique, and conversations about the animation and film industry. (Thank you Brent and David for inviting me to share this conversation with you! )
