MJFF – October H8te
October H8te
Wendy Sachs, USA, 2025, 99min
Language: English
This special premiere event will include the attendance of director Wendy Sachs, who will introduce the film and participate in a Q&A after the screening.
In this urgent and prescient documentary, Miami-based Emmy-winning filmmaker Wendy Sachs and Jewish-American actress Debra Messing explore the alarming rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel activism across the United States in the wake of the Hamas massacre on October 7. As Israel mourned the loss of over 1,200 lives and faced the abduction of 250 hostages, a surge of anti-Israel demonstrations swept through American cities and college campuses, often crossing into blatant antisemitism.
The film unpacks how America reached this critical moment, where some view Hamas as freedom fighters instead of terrorists, and how social justice movements have aligned themselves with a violent and reactionary cause. With visceral footage, October H8te highlights the intensifying campus antisemitism and the growing challenges Jewish students face in asserting their identity. From a Cornell professor expressing excitement over the attacks to Jewish students being harassed and threatened at prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Cornell, and Cooper Union, the documentary paints a disturbing picture of the climate on American campuses.
Featuring prominent voices like Debra Messing, Michael Rapaport, Mosab Yousef (son of Hamas’s co-founder), Sheryl Sandberg, Scott Galloway, US Rep. Ritchie Torres, US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, US Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Dan Senor, Noa Tishby, Bari Weiss, and a survivor from Nir Oz, the film investigates the deep-rooted connections between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and raises urgent questions about the future of Western democracy.
Compelling and thought-provoking, October H8te is an essential watch that not only chronicles the aftermath of October 7 but also asks hard-hitting questions about the future of discourse on antisemitism and freedom of speech, underscoring that this issue transcends Israel and the Jewish community—it’s a fight for the very principles of freedom and democracy.
