The Jerusalem Post reported on May 5 that “We Will Dance Again,” a documentary detailing the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which specifically targeted the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, would receive an “Honorary Emmy.”
Laurel Whitcomb, vice president of marketing at the Television Academy—the organization that hosts the Emmys—clarified to JNS that the film is instead “the recipient of our annual Television Academy Honors recognition.”
“We Will Dance Again” is one of six films to receive a Television Academy Award.
Different from the Emmys, these awards were established in 2008 and celebrate “programs across numerous platforms and genres that raise awareness about complex issues facing society,” writes the academy. They are given to artists and producers, it notes, who leverage “the extraordinary power of television to advance social change.”
The documentary chronicles the massacre of some 364 people on that Black Shabbat, in addition to the more than 40 others who were dragged as hostages into the Gaza Strip, through survivor interviews, video and audio clips. Some are attributed to the terrorists themselves, who eerily captured atrocities on GoPro cameras and sent them on social media and, in many cases, on the victims’ phones.
“Now more than ever, television serves as a powerful platform for information and discourse on important social issues that affect so many of us throughout the world,” said Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy. “We honor this year’s winners for their dedication and commitment to creative and effective storytelling that educates and motivates audiences around the globe.”
“We Will Dance Again” has also been nominated for two Emmy awards in the categories of Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary and Outstanding Editing‒Documentary.
“Hostages: The Road Home: The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper” by CNN Worldwide and “Surviving Nova: Vice Special Report” by Vice TV, related to the Oct. 7 assault in Israel, were also nominated for Emmys.
Several documentaries about civilians in Gaza and the documentary “The Bibi Files,” which features first-time footage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his family and associates, as they’re interrogated by police, were also nominated.