Exclusive: Toronto-based distribution company New Mountain Films has acquired North American screening and streaming rights to Marjolein Postra’s award-winning documentary. House of Hope About the peaceful Waldorf School in the occupied West Bank.
The agreement was negotiated by Khaled Sabour, founder and CEO of New Mountain Films, and Esther van Messel and Shiran Schmerling of Zurich-based international sales company First Hand Films.
Working with a Palestinian crew, including Dutch-Palestinian cinematographer Abu Musab, Amsterdam-based director Bostra followed Manar and Milad, a married couple who run a peaceful Waldorf elementary school in Al-Eizariya, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem under pressure from Israel’s expansion of its illegal settlements.
Against this turbulent backdrop, they strive to protect their students’ innocence and sense of possibility amidst escalating regional conflict.
House of Hope It had its world premiere at the 2025 Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, then screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto this past May. There, it won the Hot Docs Award for Best International Feature Documentary.
The award, supported by Canada’s Donner Foundation, qualifies the film for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 99th Academy Awards.
The film is produced by Robbie Delin and Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen for 100% Film, and is a co-production with Oussama Bawardi and Mai Jabareen for the Palestinian Philistine Films.
“House of Hope “It’s exactly the kind of film New Mountain was created to support — a story with real stakes, skillfully told, and deserving of an audience beyond the festival circuit,” said Sabour.
“What you think you know doesn’t survive for ninety-one minutes,” added Annette Waring, president and chief operating officer of New Mountain Films. “Manar and Milad don’t argue with anyone. They teach the children to read and imagine, and watching them do that rearranges something.”
Will bring new mountain movies House of Hope to theaters in select key North American markets in mid-October 2026, before moving to NM+, New Mountain’s purpose-driven streaming platform. The platform will convert audience viewing time of the title directly into charitable giving, expanding the film’s impact beyond its theatrical release.
