Richard Landes’s film “Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources” examines the Muhammad al-Durrah case and exposes the staged media practices that emerged around one of the most influential and consequential videos of the conflict. The film became one of the earliest and most important milestones in uncovering the Pallywood phenomenon, raising difficult questions about authenticity, media manipulation, journalistic responsibility, and the power of staged imagery to shape global perception and inflame conflict. By relying primarily on Palestinian sources themselves, the film challenges what was long accepted as unquestioned “visual truth,” marking a turning point in understanding how narrative, performance, and selective framing can operate behind the camera — and how such images can have far-reaching political and human consequences.
