The rage, tragedy and fear of October 7 remains a deeply haunting force for Israel and the worldwide Jewish community. As disillusioning as these attacks were, it is of utmost importance to understand our darkest moments

Yariv Mozer, a distinguished Israeli documentarian, felt the urgency to express the Oct. 7 massacre through a visual medium. The result is a documentary called “We Will Dance Again,” a harrowing film that follows the lives of Israelis who survived the Hamas terror attacks at the Nova music festival. The colossal festival drew crowds of mainly secular and peace-promoting Israelis to celebrate music, dance and love. However, this joyous celebration was caught in the middle of the most destructive terror attack in Israel’s history. During sunrise, Hamas terrorists sent missiles over the festival grounds and assaulted thousands of civilians as they fled the festival. Of the 1400 victims that were murdered on Oct. 7, nearly 400 of them were attending the Nova music festival. 

On Monday, this university’s Mishleanu and Jewish Student Union clubs hosted a screening of the documentary that Mozer presented himself. The screening drew in a diverse audience; bringing a mix of university students and adults from the nearby Jewish community. The screening, though emotionally intense, served as an important piece of Jewish and Israeli education on this university’s campus.

“We Will Dance Again” is framed around 17 interviews of Nova concert attendees who tragically experienced Hamas’ terror on Oct. 7. The film opens by showing the contrast between the festival grounds before and after the tragedy. Then, Mozer explores the background of the Nova festival itself from the beginning. The film intentionally omits any political context and instead, celebrates trance music–a subgenre of EDM–to evoke ethereal feelings.  

The film uniquely depicts the events unfolding in real-time, slowly introducing the threat of missile attacks before diving into the extent of Hamas’ brutal attacks. The film also shows graphic footage of attacks nearby, such as on Kibbutz Re’im and in the Ashkelon region of Israel. This film concludes with a reflective update from survivors as they grapple and mourn their new reality of loss.  

“We Will Dance Again” is a deeply political film, even without diving into the Knesset or Israel’s international relations. From the very beginning of the film, we are immersed into the intimate lives of the survivors. We are drawn into a carefree world of music, dance, drugs and togetherness. We see personal cell phone videos between friends, drawing the audience into the comradery of the concert-goers. This is what makes the film so groundbreaking: it’s a war documentary that successfully depicts interpersonal relationships. Mozer deliberately chose to spotlight the survivors instead of the politics, but it is just as compelling because it demands change. 

The ethos of trance music is one of cooperation, love and religious freedom. The concept of brotherhood between Jews and Muslims is a principal ideal of the festival. The progression from the festival to sheer bloodbath is portrayed quite realistically. At first, the concert is called off due to nearby missiles, but the assault quickly progresses into true terror. 

The majority of the documentary follows the stories of the survivors, many of whom witnessed their friends be killed, raped and kidnapped. After the screening, Mozer told us that he instructed the interviewees to tell their stories in the present tense. This is another element of immersion. We are not learning history; we are in the midst of a tragedy. The tone shift from uplifting to distressing is very empathic of the real experiences of the concert attendees, and the film’s visual and auditory palette enhance the raw emotions expressed in the interviews.

The film’s visual style is minimal, which allows the audience to see the festival and subsequent massacre for what it really was. All of the interviews feature a harsh, monochromatic backdrop in lieu of fancy sets or picturesque locations. Because the visual style of the interviews themselves are so minimal, it gives the fields and roads of Eshkol lots of room to breathe. In the beginning of the documentary, the location is grand, spacious and lush. The B-roll is mostly handheld, made up of Telegram and cell phone videos. These give the early scenes of the documentary a real sense of adventure and exploration. The use of shaky cam and amateur camera equipment give the festival an authentic feel. Mozer brilliantly subverts the visual style when the rockets start firing. 

The mood switches from spacious to encapsulating and terrifying. The charm of the handheld iPhone camera footage now feels lonely, dark and disorienting. The visual tone of the film becomes even more disturbing when Mozer introduces Hamas body cam footage, with its gray colors, frantic camera movement and grisly violence. Disturbingly, the clips show the terrorists cheering, singing and dancing. The locations throughout the 90-minute runtime become anxiously repetitive, especially the visual claustrophobia of a traffic jam during the onslaught of a Jihad. 

The film’s visual shift pairs immaculately with the soundtrack. The trance music of the Nova festival heavily influenced Tar Yardeni’s score. The soundtrack helps to establish a feeling of wonder and excitement as the festival begins, but the drums become more intense as the film progresses. During the attacks, trance music is still utilized but it is much darker and creates an anxious mood. At the end of the movie, the survivors mourn lost friends and reflect on their personal trauma. The soundtrack became completely orchestral and slipped out of the trance-inspired music that was utilized during most of the film. This helps convey the sense of clarity that emerged after Oct. 7. 

For a documentary titled “We Will Dance Again,” the film’s final moments are surprisingly bleak. There is no real search of hope at the end; it’s more of a bleak and desperate call for justice. This is congruent to Mozer’s purpose– conveying the very real, and still very current, tragedy of Oct. 7. It would have been a cop-out to end the film on a hopeful note. 

However, Mozer revealed that the Israeli cut of the documentary has a different, possibly more hopeful ending. The director also disclosed that many of the interviewees remained optimistic in the light of their dreadful experiences. He stated that survivors hammered the phrase “we will dance again” during the interviews. It is likely that the more hopeful message stressed by some of the survivors is more prevalent in the Israeli version of the film. But for the international versions, Mozer stressed the urgency and terror of the situation, emphasizing the deep pain of the attacks above anything else. 

Mozer stated that the final release of the film will be updated to acknowledge the recent murder of six hostages, with an emphasis on telling the story of Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Hersh bravely led other civilians to a field shelter before Hamas uncovered the location. Mozer also pledged to add updates to the film as news of the remaining hostages progresses. This is a testament to Mozer’s goal of creating a reactionary documentary that will have a real-world impact. 

“We Will Dance Again” is the only Oct. 7 documentary to be picked up by a major streaming service. The film will be added to Paramount + on Sept. 24. The film is set to be aired in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. “We Will Dance Again” will be the first film to air in Germany without ads since “Schindler’s List,” stressing its societal importance in combating antisemitism and exposing evil throughout the world.  This film is not intended just for Israelis; it is an honest showcase of the Nova massacre intended to inform the world of the prevalent problem of Hamas and have a genuine impact on public discourse.