Members of the Rice and Houston community recently gathered for a screening of “SUPERNOVA: The Music Festival Massacre,” a documentary by award-winning German production company GebruederBeetz Filmproduktion. The film focuses on Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, specifically on the Supernova music festival.
“I don't think society in general, in this country and abroad, has properly digested what happened on that day,” said Craig Considine, a senior lecturer in sociology at Rice, to the more than 100 people gathered in Rice’s Keck Hall as he discussed why he felt compelled to host the April 4 event.
The hourlong documentary shows a real-time account of the ambush during the bustling music festival, which had more than 3,500 attendees from multiple countries. In total, 364 people died at the event.
The film uses social media and personal video footage documenting the attack and includes interviews with survivors, family members and first responders as they recount the horrors of the day.
Following the screening, audience members offered their reactions to the film, with Considine stressing the importance of gathering in a spirit of peace with a willingness to engage in a dialogue of understanding and knowledge of humanity.
Considine, who is a prolific, bestselling author and expert on interfaith dialogue, said the film is important because “it shows reality.”
“It shows what happened to human beings,” he said. “These are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, neighbors. It's a human story. And the film speaks really for itself.”