Israeli October 7 survivors conquer trauma alongside legendary rock icons in powerful new documentary

Ten Israeli musicians who lost friends, family members and homes in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks are sharing their journey from devastation back to the stage in a new documentary called "The Bridge," produced by longtime television producer Kevin Bright and directed by Brad Allgood.

The film follows the survivors to Los Angeles, where they took part in Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, a program run by founder and CEO David Fishof for nearly three decades that pairs amateur musicians with rock legends. During their time at the camp, the group worked alongside members of Guns N' Roses, Van Halen and Black Sabbath, and the experience culminated in a final performance at the Viper Room.

The Israeli musicians attended the camp just months after the October 2023 attacks, which killed more than 1,200 people and saw more than 240 taken hostage, according to widely reported figures. Their trip came as anti-Israel protests spread across college campuses in the United States.

For Bright, a veteran of the sitcom "Friends," one exchange with a camper captured the heart of the project. A young musician told him that he had lost everything in the attack and that the only thing left was the volume control on his guitar.

"He said, 'The music wasn't gone; I could still control the volume,'" Bright recalled. "That was something that really hit me hard."

Allgood, who served as director and editor, said that during the final performance, nearly every camper was playing in honor of someone they had lost.

"Tuval [Haim] was playing drums, and he was playing 'My Hero' for his brother," Allgood said. "Bar was playing with everything he had in honor of his father. Raz and Dov were singing in honor of their friends who died that day. Everybody was playing for somebody else, and you could feel it in the music."

One of those campers was Raz Shifer, who was at the Nova Music Festival when Hamas attacked. More than 300 people were killed at the festival and dozens were taken hostage, according to her biography on the film's website. Shifer escaped to a nearby kibbutz, but two of her friends were taken captive, including Inbar Hayman, who later died in captivity.

Allgood said Shifer's relationship with music was deeply shaken after the attack. During a welcome event at the camp, she shared her story publicly for the first time and then joined the group on stage.

"It was the first time she was able to get on stage and just sort of let everything out," Allgood said. "She says in the film that it was 'the time I was able to just let everything all out.'"

The camp, Allgood explained, offered the survivors a way to process what had happened to them.

"They couldn't sleep, they couldn't eat, they just sat on their couch trying to figure out what was going on," he said. "Whatever it is about music, it allows you to connect emotionally both with yourself and with others. It's a universal language, and there's something special about it that jump-starts that process."

Bright said the documentary intentionally steers clear of the political debate surrounding Oct. 7 and focuses instead on the human experience of grief and recovery.

"This was a human story, a human situation. People were traumatized and hurt, and it was about giving them a path forward, giving something of yourself to give a path forward," he said. "I think the music took all the politics and religious judgmental aspects of it out and just made it about the music, made it about having a good time, made it about getting back on your feet and playing again."

He noted that several of the survivors had been unable to even consider playing music in the months after the attack.

"It just provided a conduit for them to get back into the world and to deal with the unfortunate trauma they had suffered," Bright said.

At the Viper Room performance, the group opened by addressing the audience in Hebrew, a moment Bright described as historic.

"They kind of tee it off by saying this is the first time that Hebrew has ever been spoken on the stage of the Viper Room," he said. "While they enjoyed playing a song in English after that, I think that moment allowed them to really carry their country, their personal pride in that country and present it through music to the audience that was there."

Bright said the title "The Bridge" reflects the journey the musicians undertook.

"The bridge is between trauma and healing, and music being the conduit or the suspension of that bridge that people walk through to come to the other side," he explained.

The film premiered in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Aug. 19, with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife in attendance, along with former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. It will roll out across select venues in North America beginning Oct. 5, ahead of a wider theatrical release in November.