The Bridge, a documentary about 10 Israelis whose lives were shattered by the October 7 attacks and who traveled to Los Angeles to rediscover the joy of making music at the legendary Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, was shown at an emotional screening at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem this week. The audience included US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and several of the Israelis featured in the film.
Huckabee, an enthusiastic musician who has played bass guitar for decades, said the film moved him deeply. “Music has the power to take our worst moments and help us to put them behind us,” Huckabee said. Songs, he said, express “our struggles, our trials, our tears, and our joys. That is why music is so powerful.”
He thanked the Israelis who took part in the film, as well as David Fishof, Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s founder and director, who also attended the screening, for allowing the audience “to see the power and the healing that music brings.”
That idea that music can provide a way back into life after devastating trauma is at the center of The Bridge.
The tagline for the movie is, “Ten survivors. One way to rock,” and that captures the essence of the film.
The Bridge, which was produced by Kevin S. Bright (who addressed the audience via video) and directed by Brad Allgood, follows a group of young Israelis affected directly by October 7 as they travel to Los Angeles for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, where participants rehearse, form bands, take master classes, and perform with veteran rock musicians. Musicians who performed with bands such as Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, and Black Sabbath mentored the Israelis.
The movie opens with clips of the October 7 attacks and features interviews with the 10 camp participants about how they survived that day. Among them was Tuval Haim, whose brother, Yotam, also a musician, was kidnapped by Hamas. Yotam managed to escape but was killed in a tragic instance of friendly fire. Another participant, Bar Rudaeff, had to cope with the kidnapping of his father, Lior, on October 7. After the conclusion of the rock camp, Rudaeff learned that his father had been murdered.
Nova survivor describes her emotions after October 7
Raz Shifer, a Nova survivor, spoke in the film about feeling tormented about why she survived when so many around her were killed. Throughout The Bridge, she takes every opportunity to speak out for the release of the hostages, including Romi Gonen, her friend’s sister. Ben King of Kibbutz Be’eri tells about how he survived with his wife in their safe room after terrorists entered their home and set it on fire.
Valeria Dvorkin sat alone in the safe room of her house in Kibbutz Nir Am with her dog for over 24 hours, hearing fighting outside. Many of her friends were killed and kidnapped, including Emily Damari, who was released in early 2025, as well as twins Gali and Ziv Berman, who were ultimately brought home in October 2025. Dov Engel, a reservist, was wounded while fighting in the South on October 8.
All 10 suffered devastating losses, and all had a passion for music prior to the attack, but most said they stopped playing music in the aftermath. Watching them gradually open up to each other and to the musicians and rock-camp participants, and begin to find joy through music again, however haltingly, is incredibly moving.
At the discussion following the screening, Fishof said that one of the most important parts of the experience was not only giving the Israelis a chance to play alongside famous musicians, but putting them in a room with Americans who, in many cases, had never met an Israeli. The camp itself became a kind of bridge in precisely the way the documentary’s title suggests.
“It was just so amazing to see how we changed all these people’s visions about Israel,” Fishof said. “And that these guys could rock out too.”
The trip took place in March 2024, when anti-Israel demonstrations were intensifying in the United States. Fishof and some of the other organizers said they had been genuinely nervous about how the Israeli delegation would be received. But when the group was introduced to the other rock-camp participants, and they told their stories, the response was overwhelmingly warm.
Sam Grundwerg, world chairman of Keren Hayesod–UIA (United Israel Appeal), who helped organize the project and who attended the screening, recalled how the Israelis were embraced by the other campers and by the musicians.
“What we’re hoping that it will do is for people that love music, that genre or any genre, people who are brought in by this human story,” Grundwerg said. “They’re also hearing these stories about real people and about real horrific things that they went through on October 7.”
Fishof said former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, who knew little about Israel or October 7 before he met the Israeli delegation, came to love them. Bach subsequently posted publicly in support of Israel, including posting the phrase, “Am Yisrael Chai.”
Israeli film participants discuss the meaning behind the trip
For the Israeli participants, the trip was about reclaiming parts of their lives that had become inaccessible after October 7.
Valeria Dvorkin, one of the participants in the Jerusalem screening, said that after October 7, she found herself unable even to listen to music.
“It was very difficult to hear music after October 7. Even in my car, in my room,” she said.
But the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp experience changed that. “After this experience, I am running on it, full power,” she said. “I’m doing music. It fills me. It makes me happy. So, I think it helps me all the time.”
She has continued making music with Rudaeff, who also attended the screening.
“You appreciate, first, that you live to enjoy this experience, and then, again, that people are fighting for the freedom that we have,” Rudaeff said at the screening. “So even though you experience fighting, you also feel grateful.”
He described how his family discussed what song should accompany his father’s burial, after Lior’s remains were returned to Israel in 2025, since music had always been such an important part of Lior’s life. The family chose Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” As the last bits of earth were placed on the grave, he said, the final notes of the song were playing.
“It was the way to be buried for him,” he said.
Only after the burial, Rudaeff said, did he feel that he could begin focusing more fully on his own life again. He has since built a music studio in Tel Aviv and returned to creating music.
Fishof said the experience convinced him that it was time to bring Rock Camp to Israel.
“Sam and I, I think our goal is to bring Rock Camp here, and to really have these rock stars come and share their music.”
He said he also hopes to give Israelis affected by the war opportunities to write songs and work directly with professional musicians.
“We want to give this opportunity to people to get into writing songs and meeting these celebrities and change people’s lives through music.”
Fishof spoke about how the recent wave of antisemitism following October 7 had affected him.
“All my life… I never had any problems, I worked with rock stars, never had problems,” he said. “But when I made this film... for the first time in my entire career, I really felt it,” said Fishof, a former sports and music agent who produced many revival tours.
He said he had difficulty obtaining the rights to one song the participants played and hoped to use in The Bridge, adding that the Tribeca Festival rejected The Bridge because its selection committee feared it would be considered too pro-Israel.
But while he has recently encountered some anti-Israel sentiment, he emphasized that others were happy to help with the Rock Camp journey. He recalled that songwriter Linda Perry heard Dvorkin perform one of her songs and allowed the production to use it without charge. Award-winning songwriter Diane Warren contributed a peace song for the Israeli participants to perform, and he said that gestures like these encouraged him.
It all went back to Huckabee’s heartfelt words immediately following the screening: “Music is able to touch us where we are,” he said, “and take us where we need to be.”