Sundance-Winning Documentary 'Who Killed Alex Odeh?' Gets Trailer and October Theatrical Release
A documentary about the unsolved 1985 assassination of Palestinian American activist Alex Odeh has debuted its first trailer, with distributor Watermelon Pictures set to open it theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on 30 October, followed by a nationwide rollout. The trailer was published exclusively by Deadline on 31 August 2026. (Deadline)
The film, Who Killed Alex Odeh?, investigates a killing that has gone without charges for more than four decades. Odeh, the Western Regional Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was killed by a tripwire bomb in his office in Orange County, California. The FBI has described the device as a "booby-trapped" improvised explosive. Odeh was a married father of three young daughters. (FBI)
No one has ever been charged, despite an active FBI terrorism investigation. The bureau offers a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to an arrest and conviction. (Deadline)
The documentary argues that the assassins escaped to Israel and that U.S. State Department officials discouraged American law enforcement from pursuing them for political reasons. It points responsibility at members of the Jewish Defense League, a radical right-wing group that operated across the United States, Canada, and France. (Deadline)
The film is co-directed by Jason Osder, who is Jewish American, and William Lafi Youmans, who is Palestinian American. It premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it won two awards, including a Special Grand Jury Prize for Journalistic Excellence. It also screened at the DC/DOX festival and was selected for the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival. (Deadline; Deadline)
Produced by Naked Edge Films, the documentary carries a producing team of Osder, Youmans, Daniel J. Chalfen, Dawne Langford, Hassan Elmasry, and Rasha Mansouri Elmasry. Executive producers include Badie Ali, Hamza Ali, Hassan Elmasry, and Rasha Mansouri Elmasry. (Deadline)
The case has a long paper trail in Washington. In December 1985, FBI Director William Webster acknowledged that the Odeh murder and other attacks had placed Arab Americans in a "zone of danger." (George Washington University)
Watermelon Pictures, a distributor focused on films about Palestine and the broader Arab and Muslim world, now takes the film from festival audiences to the general public — a path that turns a long-cold case back into a question for theatregoers.
