Nova film “We Will Dance Again” premieres at the National Library – Israeli Culture
The National Library of Israel (NLI) opened its new building a few weeks after October 7 and continued to operate throughout the conflict. It is therefore only fitting that it will present the ninth edition of the Docu.Text Festival, the NLI’s documentary film festival, starting August 18.
Given the NLI’s role as an archive of documents and literature crucial to Israel’s history, several of the festival’s films and programs will address the current conflict, starting with the opening film, which will premiere We will dance againby Yariv Mozer, which examines the Hamas massacre at the Nova festival through interviews with survivors and families of the victims, along with footage shot by both Nova participants and the terrorists themselves, much of which was broadcast live to show the world their crimes.
More than 360 festival-goers and staff were killed at the music and dance festival, about one in nine of the attendees, and more than 40 were taken hostage, some of whom are still held captive by Hamas. “I will never be the person I was before October 7,” says one of the survivors in the film. “And I’m trying to figure out who I will be now.”
Mozer has made several acclaimed documentaries, including The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapesand dramas, including Snails in the rain. We will dance again won two awards at the Documentary Edge Festival earlier this year.
This film, which will be televised in Israel in late September on Hot 8, one of the producers, will also be shown widely internationally. It will be shown in theaters across the U.S. on August 29 and September 1 before making its U.S. streaming premiere on Paramount+ in the fall. The theatrical release is being held with the support of Iconic Events Releasing. It is virtually unheard of for an Israeli documentary to be shown in U.S. theaters outside of the context of a festival. In addition, We will dance again will be shown for a week at the Laemmle Encino in Los Angeles starting August 23rd and thus qualifies for an Oscar nomination.
Susan Zirinsky, president of See It Now Studios, one of the film’s producers and former president of CBS News, said in a statement: “The human toll of the Hamas attack in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza was catastrophic for Israelis and Palestinians. It is a painful story of unfathomable tragedy, but also of bravery, sacrifice and heroism. This film is a document of history, one of the attacks that began at 6:29 a.m. on October 7.”
Other Israeli and foreign producers of the film include Bitachon 365, HSCC, BBC Storyville, Arturo Interian, MGM Television and SIPUR. The documentary will be broadcast worldwide on television in the fall.
What else is happening at the Docu.Text Festival?
There will be a series of seminars on documenting this war, including one with journalist Ben Shani, a director of the television program, Fact (Uvda)who made the film Table for Eight about the released hostage Abigail Mor Idan and her family, and Shani Drori, editor for UvdaOther seminars deal with the protection of archives in times of war.
“The Chaos of War” is a program of short student films about war made by students at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University.
IN ADDITION to dealing with the war, the festival will show many films on various aspects of literature, history and religion from Israel and around the world. Several films will be shown about prominent rabbis and their influence on society. The screening of the film King of the Sephardim by Ofer Pinchasov on the late spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, will also welcome his daughter Adina Bar-Shalom, an educator, writer and activist, in conversation with Rabbi Benny Lau on the topic “The Status of the Rabbi in Israel, Moses or Aharon?” Handwritten letters from Yosef from the NLI collection will be on display in the library.
The last righteous man by Rafael Balalu is a portrait of the Jewish-Moroccan Abuhazira dynasty, which was a leading force in Jewish communities for centuries and included the spiritual leader Baba Sali.
Renen Schorr founded and directed the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel School of Film and Television for decades and also directed several feature films. In his latest film, Wake up, grandchildren – Letters to my rebellious Rabbihe examines the life and legacy of his grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Heller, a respected rabbinic scholar and hero of the Battle of Safed during the War of Independence.
Schorr explores his relationship with his grandfather, who asked him to reconsider his decision to become a filmmaker and resume his rabbinical studies, and eventually asked Schorr to make a film about him. An epilogue in the film describes Schorr’s decision to officially add the name Heller to his legal name. Schorr will be present at the screening and participate in a conversation.
The closing event will include a screening of The albums: Eifo HaYeled (“Where is the child?”) – Zman Sukkar (Sugar Time) with a live concert by the band on the 30th anniversary of their debut album with guest Yermi Kaplan.
There will be screenings of successful films that premiered at Docaviv, most of which are being shown in Jerusalem for the first time. These include NesherYair Raveh’s captivating look at the films and life of director Avi Nesher, which includes a conversation with the film’s cinematographer, Eliran Knoller; Barak Heymann’s Rabbi Capoeiraan engaging and loving portrait of an ultra-Orthodox man who has made it his life’s work to introduce his community to Afro-Brazilian martial arts, followed by a conversation with the director and the protagonists of the film; and The Commander’s Shadow by Daniela Volker, which describes the struggle of the son of the commandant of Auschwitz to come to terms with his father’s crimes and is also a portrait of the Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and her family.
Certain films from the festival are particularly well suited to a visit to the National Library. These include Nurith Aviv’s Wandering lettera look at the letter “R” with interviews with authors, translators and linguists, which also includes a workshop by Yael Mushkin. Joanna Rudnicks History & pictures of examines young children’s book authors and places their works in the context of classic children’s literature.
The full festival programme and the possibility to order tickets can be found at https://docutext.nli.org.il/en.
