EXCLUSIVE: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the documentary October H8te, the explosive Oscar-contending film directed by Wendy Sachs.
Briarcliff plans a theatrical release in the first quarter of 2025 for the film, which documents the sharp rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel demonstrations that immediately followed the devastating October 7 Hamas sneak attack on Israel and have continued since. It devotes particular attention to anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests that erupted on college campuses in the U.S., leading to instances of harassment of Jewish students and defenders of Israel.
Actress Debra Messing, one of the few Hollywood stars to speak out ardently and publicly against acts of hate against Jewish and pro-Israel individuals, serves as an executive producer of October H8te and appears on camera in the documentary.
“We are thrilled to have the world see this important film,” Messing said in a statement. “This is about exposing fundamentalism and extremism and the threats they pose to democracy and the West.”
Among others featured in the documentary along with Messing are actor Michael Rapaport, former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, tech expert Scott Galloway, Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY), U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), author Noa Tishby, Mosab Yousef, the son of Hamas’ co-founder, and Tessa Veksler, a University of California Santa Barbara student leader who came under attack for her support of Israel.
Briarcliff will release the documentary under the title October 8.
“Briarcliff Entertainment is proud to distribute this timely and essential documentary, directed by the talented Wendy Sachs,” said Tom Ortenberg, founder and CEO of Briarcliff Entertainment. “Through powerful storytelling and firsthand accounts, Wendy has brought to light the voices and experiences that demand to be heard. At Briarcliff, we are committed to sharing stories that provoke thought, inspire dialogue, and stand against intolerance. This film is a vital call to action at a critical moment in history.”
Wendy Sachs, Inbal B. Lessner, and Nimrod Erez are the credited writers on the film.
“When I saw the rally in New York’s Times Square on October 8th celebrating Hamas, it felt like the world had lost its mind,” Sachs commented. “I’ve done a lot of important work during my career that I believed was consequential at the time, but nothing feels as urgent, as existential, and as personal as making this film.”
At a recent Q&A in Los Angeles, Sachs pointed to another important focus of the documentary. “I think tackling media bias to me was fundamental in this film and how to do that in a way that wasn’t like, ‘Oh yeah, the New York Times is terrible on Israel, NPR is terrible on Israel, Washington Post.” October H8te by no means leaves the New York Times off the hook – particularly on its reporting of an incident in which a hospital in Gaza was bombed and the Times intially placed blame on Israel, while subsequent evidence pointed to a Hamas rocket misfire as the cause.
“We’re seeing it [bias] in general traditional media, but certainly the social media piece of it is huge. I mean, that’s everything right now,” Sachs said at the Q&A. “This is a war that’s being fought on TikTok and on Telegram and on these social media platforms. So, we spend a lot of time trying to unpack what that looks like and what happens online also has real world impact.”
Sachs’ credits include co-directing and producing Surge, a feature documentary about the record number of first-time female candidates who ran in the historic 2018 midterm elections. The film was acquired by Showtime in 2020. She also served as producer on the CNN+ Original Series Land of the Giants: Titans of Tech and the MSNBC mini-series My Generation. In 2017, she was named to the “40 Over 40 Women to Watch” list by Forbes.com.
“Briarcliff Entertainment has a storied history of producing politically relevant films, most recently releasing the Golden Globe-nominated picture The Apprentice, which focuses on Donald Trump’s ascent to power, in theaters across the U.S.,” the company notes. Briarcliff handled the domestic distribution of documentaries Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down from directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West, which premiered at SXSW in 2022, and Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9, which premiered at TIFF in 2018. Briarcliff earned an Academy Award for Tom McCarthy’s 2018 film Spotlight, under the production banner Open Road Films.
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