‘We Will Dance Again’ Producer Susan Zirinsky Says Oct. 7 Doc Too Intense for Broadcast TV

‘We Will Dance Again’ Producer Susan Zirinsky Says Oct. 7 Doc Too Intense for Broadcast TV

As a seasoned gamer and a keen observer of the world, I have seen my fair share of intense and harrowing events portrayed through various mediums. However, nothing quite compares to the raw, unfiltered reality that “We Will Dance Again” presents. Susan Zirinsky‘s latest documentary, produced under her See It Now Studios, is a chilling account of the 2023 Nova music festival attack in Israel.


Susan Zirinsky, who was once president of CBS News and has spent many years as the executive producer of their news program 48 Hours, is responsible for the documentary titled We Will Dance Again on Paramount+. This documentary, which aired on Tuesday, uses an immersive, firsthand approach to recount the minute-by-minute details of the Hamas militants’ attack and abduction of attendees at the Nova music festival in Israel on October 7, 2023. This incident, part of a larger armed incursion that resulted in the deaths of almost 1,200 people, sparked the ongoing Gaza war.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Director Yariv Mozer elaborated on the film’s approach, which involves presenting testimonials from festival attendees accompanied by graphic footage captured in real-time – even material seized from the attackers themselves – to vividly illustrate the massive scale and horrific nature of the assault, as these defenseless individuals were subjected to such cruel acts.

Zirinsky, who has previously created documentaries about the 9/11 attacks and the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, shares Mozer’s viewpoint. However, she emphasizes that the impact of this particular material is greater than anything she’s encountered on television throughout her entire career. This factor led to the choice, by her studio See It Now Studios (a company producing and developing for Paramount platforms), to distribute We Will Dance Again through streaming services rather than networks.

Essentially, she believes the reason we couldn’t broadcast it on CBS was due to an unavoidable lack of commercial breaks. Streaming platforms, however, allow for a deliberate decision to show the content.

‘We Will Dance Again’ Producer Susan Zirinsky Says Oct. 7 Doc Too Intense for Broadcast TV

Mozer shared with THR that global audiences are adopting different strategies for broadcasting the documentary. He found it intriguing as RTL in Germany opted to air it during prime time on a traditional TV channel with commercial interruptions, something not seen since Schindler’s List. In contrast, the BBC will show a version of the film that won’t label Hamas as terrorists. Mozer agreed to this arrangement so that British viewers could witness these atrocities and make up their own minds about whether Hamas should be considered a terrorist organization or not.

Director Zirinsky asserts that “We Will Dance Again” is not a political movie, but rather a documentation of history. She included a series of text captions at the beginning of the storyline. These captions detail that the October 7th attack led to an Israeli military action which has taken over 40,000 Palestinian lives, as reported by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. This film is unable to narrate every individual’s tale.

For Zirinsky, noting that “we cannot tell everyone’s story is critical. It was for me.” She adds, “it allows us to say that there’s no winners here.”

We Will Dance Again is now streaming on Paramount+.

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2024-09-25 00:25