When the rockets began raining down over the Gaza-Israel border on 7 October 2023, some revellers at the nearby Nova music festival thought they were fireworks. Even when it became clear that they were missiles, many attenders weren’t particularly alarmed. Some were used to the rockets and felt they still had time to pack up their tents before driving home. But once they got in their cars, traffic was at a standstill – Hamas militants had blocked the road out of the site. Increasingly frightened, some began to document their journeys on their phones.
This film, from the Israeli director Yariv Moser, uses those videos – in combination with Hamas body camera footage – to recount the subsequent attack and frenzied survival mission of the festival-goers. In many cases, there is no need to imagine what they witnessed that day; much of it has been preserved first-hand in harrowingly visceral detail.
