Germany’s Icon Docs Working On ‘Black Saturday – The Survivors Of October 7’ About Youngsters Attacked After Fleeing The Nova Music Festival
EXCLUSIVE: A new documentary will tell the harrowing story of 10 youngsters who fled the Nova Music Festival on October 7. They were subsequently attacked as they took cover in a bunker and had to hide under the bodies of those who had been killed to survive.
The Hamas attack on the Nova Festival marked the beginning of the October 7 assault on Israel and sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has so far claimed an estimated 37,000 lives.
More from Deadline
Israeli Officials Shut Down AP Live Shot, Seize Equipment For Violation Of Media Law
Pixar's Pete Docter Teases 'Inside Out' Spinoff Disney+ Series: "We Have Finished"
The group in the film managed to exit the festival quickly and hoped they had found safety by sheltering in one of the many bunkers on the edge of Gaza. In the subsequent eight hours, however, they were subject to machine gun and grenade attacks. Icon Docs has secured footage from the festivalgoers and interviews with them as they process what happened.
Icon Docs, which is the documentary unit of German studio Bavaria Fiction, hopes to have the film ready for broadcast in time for the first anniversary of October 7.
Emanuel Rotstein, the label’s Head of Documentaries and Executive Producer, told Deadline he was approached by a colleague whose friend had a son who was in the shelter.
“He survived the terror attack in a bomb shelter. Not only him, but a group of friends. My colleague said: ‘Whatever happens we are going to record it for the future as an historical document.’”
The filmmakers have the interview footage as well as video and photos shot during the festival and from inside the bunker in which the youngsters sought shelter. The doc also captures the story of a father trying to reach his daughter in the shelter when he hears about what is happening.
The interview footage with the youngsters was captured soon after they survived the attack on the bunker. “They sat together with a cameraman and director and they basically started to tell the story, from the first time they heard about this trance music festival until the moment they were released from the hospital,” Rotstein explained.
He added: “They manage, minute-by-minute, to explain in very raw and still unbiased language, what has happened. Everything they say to the camera was still undistorted by the political events and what has happened in the months since.”
The doc is one of a number that has been commissioned since October 7 about the events. Yes Studios was behind #NOVA, chronicling the events of the day, Bad Boys studio Sipur has made We Will Dance Again and a feature is in the works about sexual atrocities committed by Hamas, fronted by Sheryl Sandberg.
Best of Deadline
2024 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming
All the Surprise Songs Taylor Swift Has Played On The Eras Tour So Far
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
