Nova victims receive emotional standing ovation at BBC documentary screening
Groundbreaking documentary to be screened on BBC2 this evening at 9pm
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
Hundreds of people, including high-ranking BBC executives, gave a standing ovation to survivors and the father of a victim of the Nova music festival murders, after a preview screening of the documentary film, Surviving October 7: We Will Dance Again. The film is being shown on September 26 on BBC2.
The screening took place at JW3, the Jewish community centre for London, with so many people that an overflow audience viewed the film in the centre’s cinema as well as in the main hall.
Present for the event was the film’s director, Yariv Mozer, and survivors Kfir, Ziv and Noam, together with Moshe Shapiro, whose son Aner, 22, died after a heroic stand-off with Hamas terrorists, who threw grenades into the shelter where 27 young people were hiding.
Ziv, whose boyfriend Eliya was kidnapped and remains a hostage in Gaza, said: “It’s because of Aner and his bravery that I am here. He saved my life. It’s not over: there are still hostages and we are living this nightmare every day.”
Yariv Mozer told broadcaster Emma Barnett: “This screening is one of the most meaningful that we have had until now, and the fact that the BBC is backing this film is so enormous. So many people made this happen — but to the BBC, thank you for co-producing this film and making it available to the British public. That means a lot to all of us”.
Speaking of the genesis of the film, Mozer, an award-winning documentary film-maker, said that in the hours following the attacks on October 7, he was in touch with everybody he could in order to get access to the murder sites in the south.
After two days, he persuaded IDF spokesman Daniel Agari to let him and a film crew to travel with a commando unit — as fighting was still taking place — to the Nova festival site near Kibbutz Re’im.
“Everything was still… people’s personal belongings were everywhere. This was the site of the massacre. This was the beginning of doing this documentary”.
All the survivors spoke of the importance of the film, of offering evidence to those who would deny what happened. It was a way “to bring the truth to the world, of this war and how it started”. Mozer added that Israelis were still waiting for an answer from the government as to why it took so long for the police and army to reach the sites of the attacks and rescue people — which is to be the subject of an official inquiry.
Some of the most striking material in the film is the GoPro footage from the Hamas perpetrators themselves, showing them in the midst of their triumphant killing spree. Mozer said this material was largely held by the Israeli police in expectation of being used in evidence in any future trials of Hamas terrorists, so he had had to acquire the footage from a different source.
The survivors themselves spoke emotionally of their individual experiences. Kfir said: “I knew that God was saving my soul”.
Noam, whose partner David was killed, arrived on stage walking, after having been filmed in a wheelchair because of her injuries during October 7. She said: “I won’t let anyone live one day on this earth without knowing who David was, and about our relationship. David was my hero: the fact that I’m on my feet is because I have David in my head, in my heart, in my body.”
She spoke of a fund raising project being run by the Nova survivors for a house in Thailand, which will offer a mental health refuge for soldiers who fought in Gaza and for survivors who are still struggling to cope with the aftermath of the disaster. Under the auspices of a WhatsApp group called Let’s Do Something, the group has opened a healing centre called David’s Circle, named for Noam’s partner David Newman, in Ko Pha Ngan. The place is a popular destination for those travelling after Israeli army service.
Watch Surviving October 7: We Will Dance Again HERE
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