EXCLUSIVE: #Nova, a film documenting the tragic events of the October 7 attack on the Supernova music festival minute-by-minute, is set to launch this evening on Israel‘s Yes TV. The network’s sales arm, Yes Studios, is also launching it for international distribution.
The 52-minute, commercial-hour doc recalls the events at the Supernova psy-trance festival, where Hamas-backed militants killed more than 300 unsuspecting party goers and kidnapped 40 others. It will play on Yes Docu this evening as a Yes Original documentary. Kastina Communications is producing for yes Docu, with Dan Pe-er directing.
The film will reveal stories from the Nova tribe, a community of over 10,000 psychedelic trance music enthusiasts, who in recent years have gathered together for the annual outdoor festival in southern Israel, close to the border with Gaza.
During the days that followed the attack, which was one of many Israel suffered on October 7, #Nova director Pe’er was engaged in volunteer efforts to aid survivors. He began receiving video and audio clips from festival goers and collated the materials chronologically, before approaching The Chef producer Kastina to make the poignant film.
“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,” said Guy Lavie, VP of Documentaries at Yes TV.
“While Yes approaches such projects with caution, due to the ongoing war preventing a truly comprehensive perspective, #Nova, compiled solely from real-time footage, much of it exclusive — and with no testimonials nor commentaries — captures the genuine emotions and horror endured by thousands of music lovers, their families, and indeed our whole nation.”
Yes Studios is taking the documentary into the international marketplace. “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,” said Sharon Levi, Managing Director at Yes Studios.
“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.”
There have been a number of fast-turnaround docs about the events at the Supernova festival, including one from Bad Boys maker Sipur for Israeli broadcaster Hot Channel 8 and HSCC. Duki Dror’s Zygote Films and German producer Gebrueder Beetz Produktion teamed to make Hamas Festival Attack — The Survivors of the Desert Rave for ZDF/Arte, debuting that at the end of November. Leonine Studios is taking that to the international market as a 50-minute film titled Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre.
Earlier this week, we reported on how the Israeli TV and film production sector, which has virtually shut down during the fighting that has followed the October 7 attacks, is looking to get cameras rolling again. During the recent ceasefire and hostage/prisoner exchange, the Israeli Producers Association set up the Friends of Israeli Film & TV Producers Association (FIPA), distribute information around producer circles in the nation, urging content makers to “please be a part of the efforts to keep telling the Israeli story.”
