A film about the rave in southern Israel that was attacked in the Hamas-led atrocities on October 7 has won an international Emmy award.
Surviving October 7: We Will Dance Again, a documentary about the Nova music festival, won the “Honour Award for Most Impactful Film to Society” at the International Emmy Awards. It also received two additional Emmy nominations.
Aired by the BBC and Paramount+, the film was recognised by the US National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences in the “Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary” and “Outstanding Editing — Documentary” categories. It also received a Television Academy Honours Award, which is given to programmes that raise awareness of significant social issues.
The 46th annual Emmy News and Documentary Awards saw several nominations for coverage related to the Gaza war.
We Will Dance Again tells the story of survivors and victims of the Nova Music Festival near Re’im, where more than 360 people were murdered and dozens kidnapped.
Using chronological footage from survivors' mobile phones, as well as videos recorded by the terrorists themselves, the minute-by-minute account shows how a rave celebrating life turned into a massacre.
Leo Pearlman, producer and partner at Fulwell Entertainment, said the film was “both the most important project I have ever worked on and the one I most wish I never had to.”
He continued, “In the 550 days since this crime against humanity, there have been 100s of music festivals around the world, not one of them has used it as an opportunity to pay tribute to the young innocent victims whose only crime was to be Jewish.
“Imagine such a tragedy occurring at Glastonbury or Coachella and the world remaining so deathly silent? Instead, at those same music festivals, we hear chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ and banners calling for the destruction of the only Jewish state and Kneecap given platforms to spread hate.
“The young, innocent victims of the Nova massacre stood for unity, love and inclusivity, we should be building solidarity across communities in their memory, using their tragic loss as the motivation to reject hate.”
He added: “It is an honour to receive two Emmy nominations and the Academy’s honorary award, not to our merit, but in tribute to those whose lives were taken, the survivors, for truth and for the 59 hostages who still remain in captivity in Gaza.”
Commissioning Editor Lucie Kon added, “I’m so pleased to see We Will Dance Again being recognised with these nominations and the honorary award. This was an important film – a historical document of a truly terrible event.”
Other Emmy nominees included PBS’s A Year of War: Israelis and Palestinians, CBS’s 60 Minutes: A Week in Israel, and The Pager Plot. Business Insider’s The Man Who Feeds Gaza’s Children was also nominated.
Anderson Cooper was nominated for “Outstanding Live Interview — Long Form” for his conversation with the parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
The Bibi Files, a documentary showing footage of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s police interrogations, was nominated in the “Outstanding Research — Documentary” category.
Al Jazeera was nominated for Starving Gaza. The Qatari-owned channel has faced criticism from Israel for its coverage of the war and for allegedly suppressing anti-Hamas voices in its coverage.
