Alana Hadid on reclaiming the Palestinian narrative through art and film

Alana Hadid knows that Hollywood is no fan of her people. But the 40-year-old designer and model has a plan to change that.

Hadid, who is half-Irish and half-Palestinian, shares the same father with supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid, real-estate mogul Mohamed Hadid. He and his family fled Palestine and their home in Safed in 1948, when he was just an infant.

The Hadid family lived in various countries before settling in the United States. Alana Hadid was born in Virginia, and now lives in California, working on her latest endeavour as creative director of Watermelon Pictures.

The film-production-and-distribution company, which was founded by brothers Badie and Hamza Ali, aims to highlight Palestinian stories.

Sitting down with TRT World during a recent interview, she said, "Our entertainment has worked against us in dehumanising Arabs and Palestinians over the years. (This) along with the media sadly is what has led up to being able to walk down a street and hear from people that it's okay to perpetrate a genocide. And these are the stepping stones that get to a place where people are so dehumanised that you can kill them live on television, and every person isn't in the street (protesting)."

Here are excerpts of her interview with TRT's Sumayya Tobah and Tanguy Garrel-Jaffrelot.

TRT World: Can you talk to me a little bit about Watermelon Pictures and what the founding principles of the production house are.

Alana Hadid: Watermelon Pictures was established in order to give a voice to the voiceless to people who have been marginalised, for Palestinians specifically whose story has been narrated for them. And we want to make sure that those voices are the ones who are telling their own story. So we started Watermelon Pictures for that specific reason.

TRT World: And can you go into a little bit more - does that mean Palestinian actors, writers? What does that look like?

Alana Hadid: Watermelon Pictures means Palestinian actors, it means Palestinian writers, it means Palestinian directors. It means all of these people representing themselves at every level. We want the key group to be Palestinian, we want all of it. And that's why sometimes I say that it's like the Palestinian A24, we really want these people to be represented at every level.

TRT World: And why is that important?

Alana Hadid: Oh, it's important for representation. I don't know that anyone has really ever seen Palestinians being represented in that way. And to know that you're watching a movie where the actress, the actor, the director, the writer, or the editor are all Palestinian, it gives you hope, and Palestinians live off hope.

TRT World: Can you talk to me a little bit about what Arab or Palestinian representation was like, while you were growing up or in pop culture in the media in general?

Alana Hadid: The media has represented Palestinians as marginalised, as terrorists, as people to be feared. And we see that and whether or not it registers to you, there's a soft power to that, that has changed the way that people have seen or believed that Palestinians are humans.

And we aren't trying to re-humanise Palestinians. We are trying to show Palestinian humanity that has always existed. From the beginning of Palestinians.

TRT World: Your first project was Walled Off, it was a documentary directed by Vin Arfuso and produced by your brother Anwar Hadid. Why was that such an important first?

Alana Hadid: Walled Off was so important to be one of our first releases, we are doing distribution, I think it also speaks to why we've been doing so much distribution, because there have been so many films that have been out in the world that have been buried.

So many Palestinians stories that have already been told by amazing filmmakers that no one has seen. And so we wanted to make sure that those films were seen first and Walled Off was an important one, because not only was it made by a Palestinian American, but all of the people in that film are Palestinian and supporters of Palestine from all over the world.

It's one of the most digestible documentaries I think that's ever been made on Palestine. It is Gen Z forward, and it is so easy to watch and so amazing and articulate and eloquent on the occupation and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

TRT World: Can you give us a sense of the kind of reactions after creating this project?

Alana Hadid: I think that we didn't really know what people were going to say. Our expectation was that we were going to have some support, obviously, from the Palestinian community, and that people were going to be open to it, and then they're wanting to help.

But their reaction was huge. You know, huge. I think that this is not just about talking to Palestinians. I'm hearing constantly from other marginalised communities that are just excited to see a production house that is focused on marginalised communities and silenced voices.

And so this has been monumental. I think our first video got like seven million views. And we were not expecting that - we were excited when we got to 100,000. We were like, "woohoo," and you know, at seven million we were like, "Oh, there really are people who've been waiting for this their entire lives."

TRT World: What kind of projects do you have coming up? And what do you hope to achieve with some of those projects?

Alana Hadid: We have so many projects in the works. Palestinian film distribution is kind of our first step in the projects. We want to make sure that those films that haven't been seen are seen. And then secondly, we are in production with a lot of amazing films, I can't talk about them because we are in production.

And I know that's really sad, but I think that everyone is going to be excited. Obviously, our goal is to be Oscar-worthy, but what's important is that we're representing and that our community feels heard and seen, and that's what our first and foremost kind of pillar is.

TRT World: Can you tell us the genres?

Alana Hadid: I think that it's important that people understand that Watermelon Pictures isn't just about making documentaries on the suffering of Palestinians. We are going to be telling beautiful stories of the history of Palestinians but also magical and mystical stories, romances and comedies.

I've said it a million times, but I think it's so important that the full spectrum of humanity of Palestinians is going to be on display with Watermelon Pictures.

TRT World: To kind of take it back, was Watermelon Pictures something that was in the works pre-October? Or was it born out of October?

Alana Hadid: It was in the works pre-October 7. But I think that everything was sped up when October 7 happened. So Watermelon Pictures was developed by Hamza and Badie Ali, who are two amazing Palestinian men whose father and uncle started one of the first and I don't know if only Palestinian distribution houses outside of Palestine, in Chicago in 1976.

And they have had this amazing distribution model, and they wanted to focus on Palestinian pictures. And after October 7, this idea that they had for many years kind of came to fruition, and I jumped on board with both feet. That's me.

TRT World: Why do you think this project was necessary, especially now, and especially here in the US?

Alana Hadid: I think it was so necessary to start Watermelon Pictures because the way that our entertainment has worked against us in dehumanising Arabs and Palestinians over the years, along with the media sadly is what has led up to being able to walk down a street and hear from people that it's okay to perpetrate a genocide.

And these are the stepping stones that get to a place where people are so dehumanised that you can kill them live on television, and every person isn't in the street (protesting).

And so we want to change things for the next generation. There are a lot of steps that you have to go through in order to get to a place where it's normalised to believe that people are human.

And we're just trying to kind of be a catalyst. We aren't the first people to ever do this. And I think it's important to say that we're not the only ones who are decolonizing this industry. There are so many people who've done it before us, and will do it after us. But we're just really trying to decolonise the industry for the future.

TRT World: What does that mean to you as a Palestinian American who maybe didn't see yourself represented as much?

Alana Hadid: I mean, I think being represented means everything. And I think that any marginalised people will tell you that representation is important. You know, seeing themselves in their entertainment in their world, and being able to know that there is that possibility of them doing that whether or not it's something that they end up doing, knowing that that possibility is out there is so hopeful, and does paint a future for them that is so much more open and bright.

TRT World: In terms of Palestinian representation, and the support for the Palestinian cause, what have the last couple of months been like for you in terms of somebody who has been so active in that space?

Alana Hadid: Support for the Palestinian cause has grown. I never thought in a million years that I would see the kind of support for Palestine that I'm seeing now. I never ever thought that I would be standing in front of 400,000 people in DC giving a speech on Palestine.

I never thought that there would be millions and millions and millions of people around the world who would be coming out to say "free Palestine" and that people on the street would be saying "free Palestine" to me without reservation. And it means everything to me.

And it means everything to me that it's happening in my father's lifetime. I'm sad that my grandparents couldn't see it. But to have my father be able to see this kind of support for Palestine is life changing.

TRT World: Your father has an incredible story. And he's been doing this work for so long. So how has that impacted him?

Alana Hadid: I mean, I think he's in awe. And he's in shock. And I think we're all as Palestinians at a point where it's kind of like how much more horrible things have to happen before the world changes.

And we're seeing that it took a genocide, and that's really disheartening. But we're also realising that there's a huge shift that's happening. And that's a worldwide shift. And it's not just about Palestine. It's about Sudan, and Congo, and all of these other places that are marginalised, and America, which is also not a liberated place. And we're all realising that.

And so this is about collective universal freedoms and liberations that are happening with a free Palestine movement.

TRT World: And where do you see this project in like 10 years. What would you like to achieve?

Alana Hadid: I would like us to be a normal household name. I want at that point for people not to be talking about decolonising the narrative, I would love for the narrative to be decolonised.

And for maybe us to have had to move on to other stories. That Palestinians are so normal to everyone that you can just say I'm Palestinian, and people are like, oh, yeah, and I saw that romantic comedy about all the Palestinians last week at a movie theatre.

Hopefully, there will still be movie theatres in 10 years. But yeah, I would just like it to be part of daily life and that maybe we've moved on to something else. And hopefully 10 years after that we are in a place where we're just making amazing movies about amazing people. And we are not having to decolonise this industry anymore.