Canadian documentary producer Igal Hecht says he hates his new Oct. 7 film, The Killing Roads. The documentary retraces the final moments of 250 Israelis who were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists along highways 232 and 34, near Gaza. Hecht also feels this is the best work he has ever done. The film releases to the public online, for free, on Oct. 1. An in-person preview screening is set for Toronto on Sept. 30. The Toronto-based filmmaker made the movie with his cameraman Lior Cohen because he felt not enough attention has been paid to these highway victims, who met their ends in their cars, on bicycles or on foot. The victims were weekend campers, athletes, and many music festival-goers fleeing for their lives along the 70-kilometre stretch of highway between Sderot and Israel’s southern border with Gaza. It’s also where Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was wounded and then kidnapped into Gaza. The Killing Roads pieces together new interviews with survivors of Oct. 7, bereaved relatives and first responders, along with hours of video taken on that day—by both the terrorists themselves and their victims. It also includes graphic, never-before-seen video from Israeli ambulance dashcam recordings, although Hecht decided to blur the victim’s faces out of respect for those involved. Igal Hecht joins this episode of The CJN Daily to share why his film is different than the catalogue of Oct. 7 documentaries out so far, and what he hopes this Canadian-made movie will accomplish.

What we talked about

• Learn more about new The Killing Roads movie and watch it for free online beginning October 1 at 8 p.m. EDT. Or attend the free preview in-person screening on Sept. 30 in Toronto.
• How Canadian photographer Skye Klein survived the Nova music festival and the killing road on Oct. 7, on The CJN Daily.
• Watch Igal Hecht’s coverage of the May 2021 conflict in Israel between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the IDF, shot exclusively for The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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