BBC Storyville has commissioned Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again…
This documentary provides a harrowing glimpse into the assault on partygoers at the Nova Music Festival – one of the sites in Israel, attacked by Hamas on October 7th 2023. The 90-minute documentary will air on BBC Two and iPlayer on Thursday 26 September at 9pm.
The human cost of the violence in Israel that day, and the war that has followed in Gaza has been catastrophic. This film focuses on events at the Nova Music Festival, with a minute-by-minute account showing how a music festival filled with young, peace-loving, partygoers just wanting to celebrate life, love and music, turned into a massacre.
Beginning on the evening of Friday 6 October, thousands of partygoers, Israelis and other foreign nationals, started to gather for the music festival in the Negev Desert, in the south of Israel. At 6.30am on Saturday 7 October, with the party approaching its climax, at sunrise, some thought the rockets that started appearing overhead were fireworks. Partygoers ran, they hid under stages, a fridge, in toilets, bushes, cars and a skip full of rubbish. The film features recollections and videos from the six or more hours that those who survived spent in hiding or trying to escape.
Using the testimony of survivors, CCTV, mobile phone and car dashcam footage, and GoPro footage from Hamas live stream, the film shares the very telling personal stories of those who lived, those taken hostage and those who died, as confusion turned into fear, and then chaos when Hamas arrived and began to slaughter anyone in sight.
Eitan (28) along with friends, Aner Shapira (22) and Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23), took refuge in a 5-foot by 8-foot roadside bomb shelter for safety, with 27 other people, but a shelter built to protect people from rocket fire couldn’t defend them against the explosives that Hamas fighters hurled through the doorway.
Aner – a British-Israeli musician and artist from Jerusalem – took seven grenades thrown into the shelter by Hamas, tossing them back outside to explode, but was killed when the eighth grenade exploded in his hand. American born Hersh, had his forearm blown off before being grabbed, thrown into a pick-up truck, and taken as a hostage into Gaza. On 31 August 2024, Hersh was one of six hostages, whose body was discovered by Israeli troops in a tunnel under Rafah. They had been murdered by Hamas after around 320 days in captivity.
After Hersh was taken, Eitan recalls ‘I remember seeing a terrorist walk in. He was wearing all black. He had a black mask on, an AK-47, and a green bandana on his head with the Hamas symbol. I remember you could see his mouth through the mask, like, he had a little opening, and he was smiling. Like it was a game that they won. They came back in…and then they started shooting everyone inside’.
Ziv (26) attended the Nova Music Festival with her fiancé Eliya, her nephew Amit, his girlfriend and several friends. Together with a total of 27 people, they found themselves hiding in the same shelter as Aner, Hersh and Eitan. Ziv’s 19 year old nephew and girlfriend were amongst sixteen of her friends who were killed that day and Ziv’s fiancé, Eliya was taken hostage to Gaza, alongside three other people hiding in that shelter.
Reflecting on her losses, Ziv said: “[Eliya and I] have never been apart, even for a day. I fall asleep in tears and wake up in tears, and only then do I start my day. Every day.” Noam recalls having to stay silent to survive; not being able to scream or cry as she realised she had been injured and her boyfriend David shot dead: “One of the girls in the container raised her head and she shouted: “They spotted me!” And some terrorist approached, and shouted: “Allahu akbar!” And there was a burst of gunfire.”
Recordings of the emergency calls made by partygoers to the Israeli army, police and ambulance service reveal in detail the level of confusion and incomprehension which met their cries for help.
A party that began as a celebration of love and spirituality for around three and a half thousand Israelis and other foreign nationals, ended with 364 people murdered, and 44 others taken hostage. Noam describes herself as “a victim of the Nova disease” whilst Eitan explains “I’m never going to be the person that I was before 7 October, and I’m trying to figure out who I’m going to be now.”
Yariv Mozer, Director, Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again:
“I see it as my duty as a documentary filmmaker to bring to the world the testimonies and horrific stories of the survivors of this slaughter, those who are no longer with us, and the countless who are still captured hostages in Gaza, with their fate remaining unknown. These are young women and men whose only sin was their desire for music and the passion to celebrate free love, spirit, and freedom.”
“It’s a story that needs to be told to honour the victims’ memory, challenge the darkness with light, and reaffirm our unwavering belief in hope, unity, and the enduring human spirit.”
This film forms part of a group of programmes marking the 7 October anniversary and the war between Israel and Hamas. Other programming includes the BBC Storyville documentary, Life and Death in Gaza, produced by BBC Eye, which will be shown on 15 October on BBC Two, a Panorama special going out on 7 October on BBC One and news coverage across TV and radio as well as a collection of curated content on iPlayer. Further details will be announced in due course.
Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again will also air around the world, including on Paramount+ in the US, Hot Channel 8 in Israel and Nine Network in Australia with other territories still to be announced.
Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again BBC Two and iPlayer on Thursday 26 September at 9pm.
