Prominent industry insiders are gathering support for Oscar consideration for the documentary “We Will Dance Again,” which chronicles the horror that unfolded at Israel’s Nova International Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023.
Producer Marc Platt, Sean Penn, music mogul Scooter Braun and former HBO and MTV documentary chief Sheila Nevins are voicing support for the film, produced by Sipur, Bitachon 365 in collaboration with MGM Television, HSCC and Susan Zirinsky’s See It Now Studios with BBC Storyville. “We Will Dance Again” has aired on the BBC Storyville plaform in the U.K. and on Israel’s Hot Channel 8. The 90-minute documentary, written and directed by Yariv Mozer and produced by HSCC’s Michal Weits, is available in the U.S. on Paramount+.
Platt, Braun and others are hosting an invitation-only screening for the documentary on Sunday on the Paramount Pictures lot. A survivor of the terrorist attack by Hamas that ignited the war in Gaza will take part in a panel session after the screening. More than 360 people were killed and many more wounded when terrorists opened fire on the outdoor festival held in Re’im in southern Israel.
Penn, who produced the 2023 documentary “Superpower” about the war in Ukraine, is speaking out for “We Will Dance Again.”
“We bandy about the term ‘must-see film,’ and yet rarely do films live up to that in any literal sense. As heartbreaking as it is revelatory, ‘We Will Dance Again’ is truly a must-see film in our time,” Penn said.
Nevins emphasized that a documentary such as “We Will Dance Again” is the right vehicle to capture world-shaking events and also help with processing the trauma.
“The camera catches it all. This brilliant documentary rises above all the vulgarity of Hamas’ inhumanity to shout ‘We will dance again,’” Nevins said.
The film pieces together the savage attack with video footage from a range of sources, including some incredibly disturbing material released online by Hamas terrorists. The ensuing war in Gaza has created a global humanitarian crisis that has left more than 44,000 Palestinians dead. Nearly 1,200 Israelis died in the Oct. 7 attack and 63 people remain captive from the 251 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Zirinsky, the longtime CBS News producer and former CBS News president, stressed that the film’s focus is on the young adults whose lives were shattered that day.
“This film is apolitical – and the authenticity of the 12 survivors – immersing you in events as they unfolded right before your eyes – and that is why so many of Hollywood’s greatest storytellers have voiced their appreciations for having unraveled this tragedy as we honor the memories of the many lives lost,” Zirinsky said.
Additional executive producers on “We Will Dance Again” are Emilio Schenker, Michael Peter Schmidt, Ariel Weisbrod, Orly Arbell and Gideon Tadmor for Sipur; Sheldon Lazarus, Ben Winston, Leo Pearlman, Ben Turner and Gabe Turner for Bitachon 365; Dari Shay, Rinat Klein, Haim Slutsky and Dorit Hessel for HSCC; Lucie Kon for BBC Storyville; Arturo Interian and Terence Wrong for See It Now Studios.
