EXCLUSIVE: Fourth Act Films has set the theatrical release for First They Came for My College, a documentary about a right-wing “coup” at a Florida liberal arts school orchestrated by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The film directed and produced by Patrick Bresnan will open Sept. 17 at the Hippodrome in Gainesville, FL and on Sept. 25 at the DCTV Firehouse Cinema in New York City. It will hit theaters in over 30 markets total, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Austin, TX, St. Petersburg, FL, Sarasota, FL, Lawrence, KS, Columbus, OH, and Springfield, MO.

“First They Came For My College tells the inside story of the right-wing campaign to ‘reconquer’ higher education in America,” notes a release. “New College of Florida was the first public college to be transformed by a political coup—a blueprint for our new era of unprecedented censorship and political interference in academia. By embedding with the student newspaper, an outspoken professor, and students from all sides of the political spectrum, this verité feature reveals a microcosm of America’s culture wars and serves as an essential document for students today grappling with their moment in history.”

Gov. DeSantis began the takeover in 2023 by appointing “six ultraconservatives to the school’s Board of Trustees, including Christopher Rufo, the right-wing activist behind attacks on Critical Race Theory, and Matthew Spalding, who would go on to play a leading role in Project 2025.”

The documentary, which premiered at True/False in Columbia, MO, shows how faculty and students mounted “a fierce resistance, exposing what they see as the new administration’s cruelty, incompetence, and corruption.”

In a statement, director-producer Patrick Bresnan said, “For me, we will hopefully look back on First They Came For My College like we do on civil rights-era films or Vietnam-era films and we say, ‘I can’t believe that’s who we were. I can’t believe that’s what we did to our greatest professors. I can’t believe that’s what we did to college students.’ What kept me going is the need to finish this document so that we can remember this period and so it doesn’t happen again.”

Along with Bresnan, First They Came For My College is produced by Holly Herrick, Harry William Hanbury, and Zackary Drucker.

“As alumni of New College, we couldn’t look away when we heard about the state of Florida’s plans for an ideological remaking of the school,” commented Herrick and Hanbury. “New College’s academic environment changed our lives, and we wanted to understand what it would mean for students experiencing that same transformation to have their education interrupted by a staged battle in America’s culture wars: one that targeted LGBTQ+ students and the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and tried—unsuccessfully—to silence dissent. In sharing this story around the country, we hope to inspire others to defend and support the freedom to learn and the freedom to be who you are.”

The documentary features several New College students, including Gabriella Batista. “At New College, we had a culture of radical acceptance, where people could live authentically,” Batista said. “And that’s what the people who took over the school tried to stamp out. But we doubled down, resisted relentlessly, took care of each other, and found joy in community. Now it’s up to all of us who lived through that ordeal to warn other schools of what’s coming and show how to stand up to right-wing bullies.”

The film’s executive producers are Ross Boucher, Steve Phillips, Margaret Brown, and Kim A. Snyder. Patrick Bresnan serves as the director of photography along with Sara Kinney. Leah Marino and Ivete Lucas edited the film. Music is by Michael Montes.

Oscar winner Steven Bognar, and Primetime Emmy winners Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine serve as consulting producers along with co-producers Monique Walton, Heather Courtney, and Daniel Raphael Potthast.

Bresnan and other members of the film team participated in a Q&A after the world premiere at True/False. He explained why he poured his creative energies into First They Came For My College.

“I fell in love with the students. I fell in love with the teachers,” Bresnan said. “And we had made a film in Florida [Pahokee] about a senior high school in a super-segregated rural farming village. And I just felt like this was the sequel to that film and I needed to be there. So that’s how it happened.”