Amid claims of anti-Israel bias, BBC to broadcast Nova film on Sept. 26

The BBC announced this week that it will broadcast the Nova Music Festival documentary Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again on 26 September.

The 90-minute film, which contains unseen footage and gives insight into Hamas's attack on 7 October, will air on BBC Two and iPlayer. It was commissioned by BBC Storyville.

This comes amid claims of anti-Israel bias in the BBC since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, including a scandal caused last week by British Lawyer Trevor Asserson's report that the BBC breached its own editorial guidelines for news coverage more than 1,500 times since the beginning of the war.

In February, former BBC director Dannie Cohen wrote a letter to The Telegraph in which he outlined cases in which “institutional bias” and outright "antisemitism" could be perceived in the BBC's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. 

Lucie Kon, the Commissioning Editor at BBC Storyville, said: “I am grateful to the young survivors of the Nova Music Festival who have trusted us to share their experiences of that terrible day so that BBC viewers can get a sense of some of what they experienced. This is an important film.”

The documentary, directed by Israeli director Yariv Mozer, starts on October 6 and shows the arrival of thousands of festival goers at the party site in the Negev, near the Gaza border.

It then features the attack at 6:30 am on Saturday, October 7, using testimonies, videos, CCTV, GoPro footage from the Hamas live stream, and phone and dashcam footage to depict the events. The footage covers the six-plus hours that people tried to hide or escape from the terrorists. 

Mozer said: “I see it as my duty as a documentary filmmaker to bring to the world the testimonies and horrific stories of the survivors of this slaughter, those who are no longer with us, and the countless who are still captured hostages in Gaza, with their fate remaining unknown. These are young women and men whose only sin was their desire for music and the passion to celebrate free love, spirit, and freedom.”

“It's a story that needs to be told to honor the victims’ memory, challenge the darkness with light, and reaffirm our unwavering belief in hope, unity, and the enduring human spirit.”

What's inside the film?

'We Will Dance Again' features the recollections of Eitan (28), who attended Nova alongside his friends, Aner Shapira (22) and Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23). Aner was killed at the festival, and Hersh was recently killed by Hamas after being in captivity as a Gaza hostage for nearly a year.

Eitan speaks of taking refuge in a 5-foot by 8-foot roadside bomb shelter for safety with 27 other people. Hamas threw grenades through the door of the shelter, which Aner tossed back out. Aner successfully tossed seven out before being killed by the eighth. Hersh had his arm blown off before being taken hostage.

After Hersh was taken, Eitan recalls, "I remember seeing a terrorist walk in. He was wearing all black. He had a black mask on, an AK-47, and a green bandana on his head with the Hamas symbol. I remember you could see his mouth through the mask, like he had a little opening and was smiling. Like it was a game that they won. They came back in...and then they started shooting everyone inside."

This is just one of the many survivor stories in the film. It also plays recordings of the emergency calls made by party-goers to the IDF, police, and ambulance services.

As Eitan explains, “I’m never going to be the person that I was before October 7, and I’m trying to figure out who I’m going to be now.”

The documentary was screened for the first time at the National Library of Israel (NLI), which opened its new building a few weeks after October 7. It won two awards at the Doc Edge Festival.

'Life and Death in Gaza'

The film is not the only one to be shown on the subject; the BBC has commissioned multiple films to mark the upcoming anniversary of October 7, and the start of the Israel-Hamas war.   

The BBC Storyville documentary, Life and Death in Gaza, produced by BBC Eye, will be aired on 15 October on BBC Two. BBC One will also play a Panorama special on 7 October.

According to a statement, the BBC said that "Life and Death in Gaza," which was produced by the BBC World Service investigative unit and BBC Eye, explores the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on "ordinary Gazans living through extraordinary times."

Filmed from the first days of the war, it documents the lives of four individual Gazans.