It’s not uncommon for audiences at the Sundance Film Festival to give standing ovations, but the ceremonial act took on a solemn air as two men who accuse Michael Jackson of molesting them as boys walked onstage following the festival’s only screening of “Leaving Neverland,” a documentary about their stories.

Wade Robson, who says Jackson abused him from ages 7 to 14, and James Safechuck came forward as adults with their abuse allegations after Jackson’s death in 2009.

The four-hour film, which will air in two parts on Britain’s Channel 4 and HBO this spring, is a sprawling account of how their lives intersected with Jackson’s at the height of his fame in the 80s and early 90s, and then later as adults when the trauma of what allegedly happened in their youth started to emerge in serious ways.

In addition to accounts from Robson and Safechuck themselves, the film also interviews family members including the boys’ mothers, wives and Robson’s brother and sister.

Sundance’s John Cooper offers a trigger winning prior to the beginning of #LeavingNeverland “we have health care professionals waiting in the lobby should you need some help.” #Sundance19

— Nicole Sperling (@nicsperling) January 25, 2019

Jackson’s voice is heard in the film, through voicemails he left for Robson and an “interview” Safechuck did with Jackson aboard his private plane, and the film also shows some of the many faxes he sent to Robson.

“We can’t change what happened to us. And we can’t do anything about Michael,” Robson said in a Q&A with the audience. But he said he hopes it makes other survivors feel less isolated and raises awareness for anyone who is responsible for children.

Safechuck added that they weren’t paid to participate in the documentary, nor did they expect to get anything from it.

‘Tabloid character assassination’

Jackson’s estate sharply denounced the film on Friday night, calling it “the kind of tabloid character assassination Michael Jackson endured in life, and now in death.”

It accused Robson and Safechuck of being “two perjurers,” a reference to sworn statements they gave while Jackson was alive stating he had not molested them.

Robson, a choreographer who has worked with Britney Spears and other top acts, testified for Jackson’s defence at the 2005 trial that ended with the pop star’s acquittal on molestation charges.

“The film takes uncorroborated allegations that supposedly happened 20 years ago and treats them as fact,” the statement said.

It accused the filmmakers of relying too heavily on the stories of the two men and ignoring the accounts of others who have said Jackson never harmed children.

“Leaving Neverland” has been denounced by Jackson’s estate and fans since the project was announced earlier this month.

Jackson was acquitted of molestation charges in 2005 in a case involving another young man. Robson testified at that trial, saying he had slept in Jackson’s room many times, but that Jackson had never molested him.

Safechuck made similar statements to investigators as a boy. Then in 2013 Robson filed a lawsuit that said stress and trauma had forced him to face the truth that he was sexually abused by Jackson.

Safechuck filed a similar lawsuit the following year. Both were dismissed for technical reasons and a judge did not evaluate the merits of the allegations.

“Leaving Neverland” director Dan Reed said he was entering new territory exploring an entertainment figure, instead of his usual subjects like terrorism and crime.

He told the men, who had talked to so many lawyers over the years, to just speak to him like he was an ordinary person on the street and not to worry about contradictions.

He interviewed Robson for three days and Safechuck for two days before deciding that he also wanted to speak to their mothers.

“I was just blown away,” Reed said. “I knew we had something really big.”

Safechuck and Robson say that being together through the process has been incredible.

“It’s all we’ve wanted for the past six years to be able to talk, communicate,” Robson said. It’s just been beautiful.”

Safechuck added: “It was a long time coming, just connecting to someone who has been through this. It’s amazing.”

Discredited allegations

The film has stirred up controversy since it was announced just a few weeks ago. Upon its announcement, the Jackson estate condemned it for rehashing “discredited allegations”.

Before the screening, there were reports that there would be massive demonstrations outside and Park City deployed extra police outside the Egyptian Theater, which is in the middle of the festival’s busiest street. But only a handful of people showed up on Friday holding posters with the word “innocent” displayed over Jackson’s mouth.

An audience member brought up the reality that there are many Jackson fans who don’t believe them, and asked if they had a message for them.

“I don’t feel like there’s anything I need to say to them, except that I understand that it’s really hard to believe,” Robson said.

“Because in a way, not that long ago, I was in the same position they were. Even though it happened to me, I still couldn’t believe. I still couldn’t believe that what Michael did to me was a bad thing. We can only accept and understand something when we’re ready.”

Salfit, occupied West Bank – A decade and a half ago, Munira Ibrahim Amer would venture outside the front porch of her home in Mas’ha village each morning and watch her community come alive.

She remembers children giggling and sauntering off to school, the bustling of cars as residents made their way to work, and the fruit and vegetable vendors scrambling to set up their shops for the morning rush.

Nowadays, all Munira is able to see from her porch is a massive concrete wall.

“I somehow got used to it,” Munira, 54, told Al Jazeera. “Feeling the pain every day is too much to handle, so at some point, you have to stop feeling.”

Israel established the illegal settlement of Elkana on the outskirts of the village in 1977. It expanded through the decades and is now home to some 3,884 Israelis residing in the occupied West Bank in violation of international law, according to the Israeli rights group, B’Tselem.

In 2002, when Israel began building its separation barrier, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice two years later, the family home near the settlement ended up on the Israeli side of the barrier.

The length of Israel’s wall is expected to be 712km upon its completion, more than double the length of the Green Line, which divides the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.

According to B’Tselem, 85 percent of the structure’s route, which consists of electronic and barbed wire fencing, ditches, and a 70km-long concrete wall, is built inside the occupied territory and divides Palestinians from their lands.

Israel’s concrete separation wall was constructed directly in front of the Amer family’s home. The fencing borders them on three sides, separating the family from Israeli settler units located just some metres away from their home.

Decades of loss

Before the Elkana settlement, these lands were used by local farmers. “All the residents of the village were farmers and they spent all their time on the lands, especially during the olive harvests,” Hani Amer, Munira’s husband, told Al Jazeera.

“But this past is now extinct,” the 61-year-old said. “People don’t even like to look to this side of the village, because they see the land they lost and can’t access any more.”

Hani was about 20 years old when the first settlers arrived in the area. When he married and had children, he feared that the settlement’s expansion would push his family out of the area. 

The family attempted to stop the construction of the wall, and for a month they succeeded when hundreds of local, international and Israeli activists camped outside their home.

However, Israel eventually deployed 500 soldiers and border police officials to the area to suppress the demonstration. The Palestinians and Israelis were arrested and all the international activists were deported from the country.

Hani was forced to stand by and watch as his flower shop in front of his home was demolished into rubble to make room for the wall and an Israeli military road that runs parallel to it.

The flower shop used to bring in nearly $270 a day for the family.

Their next property to be targeted was a poultry farm, worth an upwards of $100,000. The family owned 500 chickens that would produce around 150 bags of eggs a day, Hani says.

It was only after the poultry farm had been demolished that Israeli authorities decided to adjust the route of the wall that would have kept his business on the West Bank side.

Hani’s 11 hectares of land, where he plants cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and various other vegetables and fruits that he sells at local markets, was also targeted by the Israelis for confiscation.

After protesting the decision with the help of human rights organisations, Hani was able to save eight hectares from being consumed by the wall. However, his ability to reach them was severely impeded.

Before the wall, it would take Hani 15 minutes to walk to his land. Now, it takes him three hours to travel around the settlement and the wall to enter his land from the opposite side.

“Now I spend six hours in travel to see my land, so it affects how much we’re able to produce,” Hani said. “Usually I would be working on the land for eight hours a day. But now it’s hard to do that.”

‘They treat you like a criminal’

The wall’s route was initially supposed to pummel through the Amer family’s home. “I told the Israelis that it’s better to kill me than to take my house,” Hani said.

After negotiations between the family and the Israeli army, and with the assistance of human rights groups, they eventually rerouted the wall and built it right in front of their home.

When the separation barrier was built, the army would open the gate connected to the wall for the family for 15 minutes each day.

Later, they constructed a small gate in the barrier for the family to exit and return. The family was given a key, but only members of the family were permitted to enter the premises.

“I didn’t accept this,” Hani told Al Jazeera. “I would smuggle guests in and if I got caught, the army would take the key away from me.”

It took seven years of negotiations for the Amer family to be able to come and go as they please and to be allowed to have guests at their home.

The Amer family’s home, however, is still surrounded by cameras, with a private security company based in the settlement constantly surveilling them and calling the Israeli army if settlers make a complaint or journalists are seen filming or taking pictures around the home.

“They are spying on me all the time, even though I’m not doing anything wrong,” Hani said. “I’m just living my normal life. But they treat you like some kind of a criminal.”

During the planning stages for the separation barrier, Israeli authorities tried to “have the least amount of Palestinians on the west [Israeli] side of the barrier, and most possible Israeli settlers”, Dror Etkes, a researcher for Israeli rights group Kerem Navot, told Al Jazeera.

“This is why there are so many curves and turns in the structure, and it snakes across the West Bank,” he said. “It was designed to include as much vacant land as possible without including the Palestinians.”

“They want to Judaise the West Bank as much as possible.”

B’Tselem has noted that a major factor in determining the route of the separation barrier was the location of the settlements, “thereby laying the groundwork for the de facto annexation of most of the settlements and much land for their future expansion”.

‘No injustice lasts forever’

While life has become easier for the Amer family compared with the first few years of the wall, they still face harassment by the army and settlers.

The settlers used to come to their home every day, Hani says, but now these intrusions have become less frequent.

Nevertheless, “we still feel like we are in danger all the time”.

For Hani, no amount of time can normalise his situation. “I feel the same as how I felt 10 years ago,” he told Al Jazeera. “As long as the wall and the occupation exist, we will always be suffering.”

“I’ll continue my life by surviving,” he said. “I need to keep going. I still have the will to work and survive.”

Munira says its the overwhelming feeling of loneliness which is the most difficult part. Of their six children, only their 18-year-old son lives in the house; others married and moved outside the area.

“I would love for my children and my relatives to be around me,” Munira said. “But because of this situation, it’s impossible.”

“But we know none of this is permanent,” Hani added.

“I have faith that maybe after two days, 10 days or 100 years, this will all go away, because no injustice can last forever.”