Australia / Israel Review

Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again
Directed by Yariv Mozer; released 23 August, 2024

Artistic works involving Jews and Israel often need to battle on multiple fronts. “Denialists” can challenge the veracity of events, no matter how well-documented. Then there is the poisonous accusation that “Zionists” exploit the arts, sports, and even humanitarian gestures to “launder” Israel’s persecution of Palestinians. 

This is one reason Israeli filmmaker Yariv Mozer chose to cover Hamas’ massacre at the Supernova music festival for his new documentary – Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again.

As he explained to the Times of Israel, Supernova “wasn’t political and we knew this film could cross borders and be easier to bring to the world… The partiers weren’t in the army, they came to party, and they found themselves in a scene of terror.”

The BBC conditioned its broadcasting of the documentary on Mozer never referring to Hamas as terrorists. Yet, given the self-evidently horrific actions we see – 364 people out of around 3,500 at the festival were murdered and 44 more kidnapped to Gaza – this unfortunate compromise is largely unnoticeable.

The film tells the story of October 7 from the perspectives of 17 partygoers, individually talking direct to camera. 

Their monologues are intercut with an abundance of audio-visual material from CCTV, car dashcams, mobile phones, calls to emergency services, as well as Hamas bodycam footage, to create a near minute-by-minute reconstruction. 

Running for 90 minutes, the result is a taut, chilling, raw, deeply moving and surprisingly intimate experience. 

It begins in the early hours of October 7 and sets the scene by introducing the dramatis personae – their backgrounds and how they ended up at the festival. 

When the festivities are prematurely ended by a huge barrage of rockets from Gaza at 6:30am, the documentary shifts, becoming a study in contrasts.

On one side are the rampaging hate-filled terrorists high on Islamist dogma and a stimulant called captagon. Meanwhile, at the party, many are riding high on a wave of chemically enhanced feelings of love courtesy of MDMA (aka “Ecstasy”).

Similarly, while we hear the terrorists gleefully slaughter the innocent as they call out “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), terrified Israelis recite the Shema – “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One” – an age-old affirmation of Jewish identity and the Jewish prayer recited before one’s death. 

When the rockets begin falling, some attendees pack up and leave, while the more spaced out and chilled remain. But once the enormity of what is transpiring sinks in, many exhibit an amazing degree of level-headedness.

Some who manage to escape the bottleneck of cars at the exit stop at roadside bomb shelters – migunit – to wait out the incoming missiles, unaware that thousands of terrorists are pouring into Israel.

The migunit, ubiquitous in southern Israel, become a death trap when the terrorists arrive. 

Others, like Elad, 23, seek shelter at a military base, thinking it’s “the safest place you could be,” unaware terrorists are there too.

Lacking self-awareness, at one point, a terrorist says, “They’ll never know what happened here in 20 million years.” Except, of course, the terrorists broadcast their monstrous crimes in real time on social media.

Israelis were also capturing events on their mobile phones as Natanel, 19, explains, “so that I [can] believe it myself… to look at it later, if there is a later.”

There is much to absorb in the documentary, probably too much for a single viewing. Rewatching is painful, but well worth it.

We Will Dance Again is a tale of ordinary people thrust into an extraordinary situation. In the end, the astounding humanity and concern the partygoers show one another in their fight to survive shines through. 

At time of publication, the opportunity for Australians to watch the documentary on TV was unclear. Channel 9 bought the Australian rights and was reported to be planning to air it on October 7, but this did not occur. A Nine spokesperson told AIJAC there were no plans to screen it. Subsequently, some online sites claimed Nine intends screening it before the end of October. Alternatively, the documentary can be viewed on Apple TV (subscription required).