October 8 is depressing, frightening and warning of lurking dangers for the American Jewish community. It also is one of the most important films you’ll likely see this year.

That is not hyperbole. The documentary by filmmaker Wendy Sachs and produced by actor Debra Messing chronicles the surprising aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel on college campuses, exploring how and why social justice groups ended up aligning with the terrorist organization and how Jewish students reacted to their changed learning environment.

As writer, podcaster and political activist Dan Senor said in the film about the countrywide campus protests, “Rather than the outrage being directed at those slaughtering, the outrage was against Jews for objecting to being slaughtered.”

Senor is among some 40 personalities in the documentary, an impressive roster of lawmakers, actors, influencers, student leaders and others interwoven with archival footage and scenes from the past year and a half.

The documentary, available in select theaters on March 14, offers a timeline of events. It chronicles the Hamas attacks themselves; demonstrations around the country that began in their immediate aftermath; Jewish and Israeli students being targeted on campus; and the congressional hearings that featured university presidents unwilling to say whether calls for the genocide of Jews violate their school’s code of conduct.

For American Jews who had felt comfortable in the halls of higher education for decades, the antisemitic and anti-Israel upheaval was bewildering. One of the questions the film addresses is how Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), one of the main groups leading campus demonstrations, was able to organize so quickly. The nationwide protests and SJP’s activities required planning, funding and a high level of coordination. Indeed, October 8 includes a 1993 wiretapped conversation between two Islamic leaders that suggests that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood financed SJP.

As Sachs said in a telephone interview with Hadassah Magazine, both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood “have been in America for decades and they’re orchestrating what we’re seeing now on college campuses. They’ve infiltrated institutions like universities and the media. This is a very sophisticated strategy and it’s paying dividends now.” 

Bias in the media is another focus of the film, which explores three New York Times stories on the bombing of a hospital in Gaza City in October 2023 as proof of how anti-Israel sentiment can creep into the media. After the bombing and subsequent mass casualties, the Times didn’t wait for an Israeli investigation into the incident and ran with the Hamas version of event and the headline, “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinian Officials Say.”

Hours later, when uncertainty arose about where the strike came from, Times editors changed the headline to reflect the uncertainty about the bombing.

But when it became clear that Islamic Jihad was responsible for the deadly blast, the headline changed again, accusing the organization of causing an “explosion.” Not a bombing, but an explosion—like a gas stove left on by accident.

October 8 also calls out the deafening silence from many of Israel’s traditional allies. As Messing said in the film, “I felt betrayed” by celebrities and media personalities who refused to take a stand.

Actor and comedian Michael Rapaport, who has become an outspoken advocate for Israel on social media, described how he had headlined a pro-Israel rally. Yet, he told Sachs, “the fact that I, Michael Rapaport, was the biggest name there” really says something about the attitude toward Israel in Hollywood.

The documentary is not entirely negative. Sachs attempts to end the film on a hopeful note, with appearances by pro-Israel New York Congressman Ritchie Torres and other non-Jewish allies who speak frequently about their support for Israel. Nevertheless, even these voices cannot dispel the horror described in the earlier part of the film.

Sachs’s support of Israel began when she was a teenager. The director grew up in a secular household in Miami and attended the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, which she described as “transformative.”

“My parents had never been to Israel,” Sachs said. “I don’t have any relatives in Israel. I went to this program in 1988, and I came back ready to join the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and move to a kibbutz.”

When she attended Northwestern University, she said, “I became a pro-Israel activist on my college campus.”

Sachs has directed one previous documentary, Surge, about the unprecedented jump in first-time female political candidates in 2016. Compared to her first film, she had little difficulty financing October 8, which was originally titled October H8te. “I think the Jewish community really came together. When they heard about my film, there was an urgency to do something.”

The film includes archival footage of Nazi burning books at German universities. It begs the question if, in the future, Jewish or Israeli books will be thrown on bonfires at universities. What should American Jews do?

“You know, that’s a great question,” Sachs replied when asked that very question. Instead of putting their names on the walls of university buildings, she recommends that Jewish donors to universities “sponsor fellowships and endow chairs for Middle East study departments for people who know the truth and are not just spreading propaganda.”

And, Sachs added, “we need to do a better job educating our young people, making sure they really proudly identify as Jewish.”

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Curt Schleier, a freelance writer, teaches business writing to corporate executives.