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New project to preserve 7 October stories through films and theatre
A play about former hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel will lead an international effort to keep survivors’ stories alive
A new international project will bring the stories of 7 October survivors to audiences around the world through films, plays and exhibitions, as Israel prepares to mark three years since the Hamas attacks.
The October 7 Global Memorial Project has been launched to ensure the experiences of victims, survivors and former hostages are remembered by future generations.
Its first production will tell the story of former hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, whose lives were torn apart when Hamas terrorists abducted them from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October 2023.
Aviva was released after 51 days in captivity, while her husband remained in Gaza for 484 days before being freed in February 2025.
The play, written by Eytan Schwartz and Michal Aharoni, is expected to premiere at Israel’s national theatre, HaBima, before being staged in the United States.
Another production, planned for 2027, will tell the story of former hostage Omer Wenkert in a one-man show written by Schwartz and Meiron Sasson.
An English-language Hollywood film is also being developed alongside Israeli production company Kastina Communications.
The initiative is led by Schwartz, who previously spent 15 years overseeing international affairs for Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality and has focused on documenting 7 October since the outbreak of the war.
He said preserving survivors’ testimonies was essential as efforts to deny or distort what happened continued.
“Documenting the stories of 7 October is the mission of our generation,” he said.
“On that terrible morning, we awoke not only to a catastrophe of biblical proportions, but also to a machinery of denial on a scale humanity had never before witnessed.
“This new initiative is one piece of a much larger mosaic of people and organisations around the world working to ensure that the memory of these events continues to live on for generations to come.”
The project follows Schwartz’s involvement in two documentaries produced with Kastina Communications and philanthropists Carol and Joey Low.
The first, Screams Before Silence, fronted by former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg, examined sexual violence committed during the Hamas attacks. According to the organisers, it has been translated into 18 languages and screened in 20 parliaments.
The second, The Children of October 7, features American activist Montana Tucker interviewing children who survived the attacks. It was subsequently acquired by Paramount+ for streaming in 20 countries.
Alongside its film and theatre productions, the new initiative will arrange visits to southern Israel for international journalists and influencers, giving them the opportunity to see the sites of the attacks.
An advisory board includes 7 October survivor Ella Shani, German antisemitism commissioner Uwe Becker and Dr Cochav Elkayam-Levy, who founded a commission investigating crimes committed against women and children during the attacks.
The productions will be supported by donations from philanthropists, charitable foundations and organisations involved in preserving the memory of 7 October.
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