The Israeli documentary We Will Dance Again, directed by Yariv Mozer in collaboration with Paramount+, won the prestigious Emmy Award for Best Contemporary Documentary.
The film tells the personal stories of survivors of the October 7 Nova music festival massacre.
During his acceptance speech in New York, Mozer dedicated the award to the immediate and safe return of the hostages in Gaza, emphasizing that the cycle of bloodshed must end and warning against the war serving the interests of either the Israeli government or Hamas.
The crew at the ceremony included Yuval Siman Tov, Tamir Leshetz, and Natalia Kasroti, the mother of Keshet Kasroti-Kalfa who was killed in the attack. The event marked a major achievement on the second day of the Documentary Emmy Awards, which opened with wins for coverage of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
Mozer described the film as a raw document of events told through the voices of twelve survivors who share harrowing, deeply human stories of courage and impossible choices made under attack.
He acknowledged the emotional difficulty of standing on stage while war continues, with some hostages still in Gaza for over 625 days.
In an interview with Ynet, Mozer said that for him the most important message is that the war must end and the hostages must come home, even if that view is unpopular in Israel. He also noted the surprise of winning, given that the previous night’s Emmy news categories focused so heavily on Gaza coverage, suggesting the award might reflect a need to balance the picture, though he remained modest about the film’s quality.
