Yes TV announces creation of new drama show about October 7

Yes, the company that gave us Fauda and Shtisel, among many other hit Israeli series, announced its slate of 25 upcoming projects on Wednesday, one of which will be an anthology series dramatizing the events of the Hamas attack on October 7 – which its CEO Ilan Siegel said was “especially important right now.”

“The huge sum we invested this year in producing original content during the war expresses our deep commitment to Israeli creativity and advocacy efforts in the world,” he said. The company has invested more than NIS 100 million into Israeli television series.

The gala announcement event – which these days in Israel means a trendy venue in Jaffa and day drinking – featured performances by star musicians Noa Kirel and Noa Erez and appearances by many of Israel’s brightest stars who turned up to promote their upcoming work, including Nelly Tagar, Lucy Ayoub, Naomi Levov, Moris Cohen, Guri Alfi, Yuval Semo, and many others, as well as top producers such as recent Israel Prize recipient Moshe Edery.

A show that will tell the story of October 7 survivors

But the war was not forgotten amid the glamour, as the new Oct. 7 series was described in detail. Each of its four episodes will spotlight a different story. Levov will portray cyclist Aya Midan, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri whose life was saved by courageous Bedouin from Rahat, who rescued dozens of others.

Levov said she felt a “sense of mission” about participating in the film and telling this story. She met with Midan, as well as others who were there, and watched video footage of real events to prepare for the role. 

Several other stories will be included in the series. One concerns several Hatzalah volunteers who headed to the South as quickly as they could and saved lives with their ambulance. This episode will feature Yuval Semo of Eretz Nehederet in the very serious role of Avi Gian.

In other episodes, Yael Abecassis will portray Sabine Tassa, whose husband Gil was killed jumping on a grenade to save their children; and best friends Gali Amar and Amit Amar, who survived the Supernova festival massacre by hiding out, will be portrayed by Swell Ariel Or (The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem) and Noa Keidar.

AMONG THE series producers are Chaya Amor, an American, who felt that after the news broke of the massacre, she and her producing partner Daniel Finkelman (Menashe) “needed to shift all our energy to this project... Daniel is originally Israeli-born and I am very Jewish, and we know that in Hollywood, in our industry, a lot of people aren’t very comfortable speaking about this subject, but we decided to devote ourselves to it.”

She noted, “You know how you always think that someone else is going to do something?... And then you realize that no, everyone is waiting on someone else.” So they quickly decided to create the project together with Yes.

Other producers include Lee Ben Shlush and Aviv Ben Shlush. The series, the English name for which is yet to be announced, will be premiering on Yes in a few months.

Other series and movies that were announced at the press conference included 

• Embassy Down, a suspense drama about the siege of the Israeli embassy in Cairo in 2011 starring Yael Elkana and Maor Schweitzer• NOGA, an intimate documentary about Israeli indie-pop sensation Noga Erez

• Dagan: The Last War, an in-depth look at the life of the former head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, featuring a deathbed interview 

• My Darling Sisters – the new season of the beloved series directed by Guri Alfi, in which the trio played by Nelly Tagar, Danna Semo, and Tess Hashiloni visit India 

• Zahavi, a look at Israeli soccer star Eran Zahavi

• Wonder, a suspense drama that takes place in an impending dystopian technological future, starring Noa Kirel and Moris Cohen, and produced by Paramount’s Ananey studios

• Kugel, a prequel to Shtisel, which features Sasson Gabay and Milli Avital and is set in Belgium, and 

• Night Therapy, a series about a traumatized psychologist, featuring Yousef “Joe” Sweid, Lucy Ayoub, and Shira Haas.

The event also featured a speech by Yossi Elias, a Givati commander whose brigade was adopted this year by the companies Yes and Pelephone. He spoke movingly about the bravery of the soldiers who have been fighting for the past eight months and the need to support the wounded and perpetuate the memory of our fallen heroes.