for all screenings
Co-Directors
Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans
Executive Producers
Badie Ali, Hamza Ali, Jim Butterworth, Hassan Elmasry, Rasha Mansouri Elmasry
Producers
Dawne Langford, Daniel J. Chalfen, Jason Osder, William Lafi Youmans
Editors
Anna Alvergue, Tyler H. Walk
Co-Editors
Anna Alvergue, Tyler H. Walk
Cinematographers
Therese Tran, Chithra Jeyaram
Music
Dana Kaproff
In October 1985, Santa Ana, California was shaken by the assassination of Alex Odeh, a beloved teacher and community leader killed by a tripwire bomb in his office. Despite clear evidence and identified suspects, no one was ever held accountable. WHO KILLED ALEX ODEH? reopens the case as a gripping cold-case investigation, following a renewed search for justice in real time as long-buried leads resurface.
Unfolding like a detective thriller, the film combines archival footage, firsthand testimony, and new reporting to expose the extremist forces behind the attack and the systems that allowed it to go unsolved. Directed by Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans—a Jewish American and a Palestinian American—the film expands beyond a single crime to examine the enduring rise of political extremism and the consequences of justice denied.
Jason Osder (co-director/producer) is the director of LET THE FIRE BURN. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, screened at more than 50 festivals worldwide, and won the Best Editing Prize at RIDM, the IDA Award for Editing, the Cinema Eye Honor for Editing, and the Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award. Jason is an Associate Professor at The George Washington University.
William Lafi Youmans (co-director/producer) is an Associate Professor in Residence at Northwestern University in Qatar. He holds a Ph.D. and a J.D., and serves on the board of the Arab America Foundation. An experienced researcher of Arab American history and Middle East politics, he is the project’s subject-matter expert on Alex Odeh.