New documentary features ‘real-time footage’ from music festival massacre

The documentary captures ‘the genuine emotions and horror endured by thousands of music lovers, their families, and indeed our whole nation.’

By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner

Yes TV, a leading Israeli broadcaster and streamer premiered on Wednesday an original documentary that exclusively uses real-time footage to chronicle the terrorist onslaught at the Supernova electronic music festival, where Hamas murdered more than 300 young people and kidnapped 40 others on Oct. 7.

The film, called #NOVA, is also available to broadcasters worldwide through Yes Studios. It was produced by Kastina Communications for Yes Docu and directed by Dan Pe-er.

Pe’er volunteered to help survivors in the days following the massacre at the outdoor festival, which was held in Re’im, Israel, close to the border with Gaza, and attended by more than 3,500 people. He started collecting videos and audio clips from festival survivors and arranged the media chronologically before approaching the production company Kastina Communications to create #NOVA.

Guy Lavie, vice president of documentaries at Yes TV, explained that the documentary is compiled “solely from real-time footage, much of it exclusive — and with no testimonials nor commentaries,” capturing “the genuine emotions and horror endured by thousands of music lovers, their families, and indeed our whole nation.”

“The number of stories emerging from that awful Saturday is inconceivable, and the Israeli filmmaking community is fully committed to documenting these stories and sharing the realities of that dreadful day,” he added.

Sharon Levi, managing director at Yes Studios said, “We’ve all seen some clips from this day on news bulletins worldwide but to have all of this extraordinary and exclusive footage combined into one linear timeline makes for a really powerful and visceral narrative, sharing the true horror of the atrocities. It may be an extremely difficult watch for some, but this is an important film — and while we are all praying for a peaceful resolution to this centuries-old conflict — it needs to be seen.”

The attack at the music festival was part of a series of raids that Hamas carried out in southern Israel during the early hours of Oct. 7. In total, roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during the massacre, and 240 others were kidnapped and taken back to the Gaza Strip. More than 100 hostages have thus far been released, mainly as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.