Roger Waters Signs On as Executive Producer for Palestinian Documentary 'Freedom Theatre'

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has confirmed he's joined the production team of Freedom Theatre as executive producer. The documentary, directed by Rishi Pelham, follows Ahmed Tobasi — a former resistance fighter turned theater worker — as he tries to keep a theater running inside the Jenin refugee camp in Palestine. According to Variety, the film took five years to shoot and is headed for the festival circuit, with the team traveling to the Venice Film Festival this month to find a distribution partner.

What the film is about

Pelham told Variety he didn't set out to make a film — he kept returning to Jenin, to the theater, to the camp, until the story eventually "insisted on being told."

He described being drawn to the tension between two worlds: the enclosed, controllable black-box rehearsal space, and the reality outside the camp, which he called full of life, volatile, and impossible to contain — two spaces that gradually bleed into each other over the course of the film.

Waters' record on Palestine

Waters has long been a vocal supporter of Palestinian causes. During the 2024 US election, he urged followers not to vote for either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, citing both candidates' positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Last July, after Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization under the UK's Terrorism Act 2000, Waters publicly voiced his support for the group.

He has also repeatedly weighed in on other musicians' stances. Addressing Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, Waters said "there is no argument to be made," adding, "this is not a conflict, this is a genocide." When Nick Cave criticized his support for the BDS movement in 2024 as "embarrassing" and "deeply hurtful," Waters responded, "it's not complicated," telling Cave to "pay attention."

A reimagined 'Comfortably Numb'

Last month, Waters released a "reimagined" version of the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb" in collaboration with Palestinian singer Mona Miari, saying he hopes the track will be seen as prophetic. He later thanked listeners on social media for watching, streaming and sharing it, and urged people to keep donating directly to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF).