Will Story Of Israel’s Oct. 7 Hero Screen In America?

Powerful documentary moved an audience at its U.S. premiere, but finding wide distribution remains a challenge

By Alex Ben Block

This article is an expanded version of a story posted by The Hollywood Reporter on Nov. 23. You can read that story at:

For more on this hero’s story you can read an earlier post below.

The Difficult Search For Global Distribution

The 1,500 guests who arrived at the Beverly Hills Temple of the Arts on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills on a balmy mid-October evening had to pass a squadron of security guards, go through a metal detector, and have their IDs checked before taking their seats inside the Saban Theater.

The security was a fitting prelude to what they were about to see on the screen, the American premiere of “Oz’s List, The Journey of Oz Davidian,” an Israeli-made documentary about the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel that ignited the current Middle East conflict.

The one-hour, made-for-TV Hebrew language film follows the story of a 53-year-old farmer and lawyer — his name is pronounced O-zehz — who put his own life on the line to save some 120 young Israelis, Americans and others who scrambled for safety as hundreds of Hamas terrorists shot, raped, tortured, killed and took hostage anyone in their gun sites at what had been a peaceful music festival.

Driving an Israeli government issued Mitsubishi 4 by 4 truck assigned to him for his role as liaison to the Bedouin community, Davidian carried a single handgun and one load of ammo for protection as he navigated back roads he once used for herding sheep. He made about 15 trips that long day to rescue terrified concertgoers and return them to their anxiously waiting families, with terrorist bullets often whizzing by his truck.

The extraordinary images presented in the documentary were made possible because Davidian’s truck came equipped by the Israeli government with video cameras on the front and back and inside the cab of the vehicle.

Many in the Saban theater were visibly moved by the film, which re-traced Davidian’s actions on that fateful, terrible day.

“It's a beautiful story of the depth of human love for people. I've never seen such a hero do such a selfless act like that and create a future for so many people,” said Jeremy Stern of Manhattan Beach.

“It was an amazing story,” said Paul Kovich of Los Angeles, who was also brought to tears. “Especially some sad parts where he had to go through and see all these people that were dead. He's still having nightmares. What he did took a lot of courage.”

“It shows that in the darkest time we can be heroes,” said Bernard Hiller, an acting teacher in Los Angeles. “It shows the goodness of humanity. This film was about a man who thought that something was higher than his own life. It just shows what humanity can do.”

“It doesn't talk about the war in any way,” added Hiller. “It talks about what we can do under circumstances, under pressure. It talks about how we can make a difference.”

“It did bring tears to my eyes,” said Jacob Lasik. “Specifically, where you saw his family involved in it and knowing that for him, he probably saw a lot of those Israeli kids as his kids from that moment. Thinking of how tough it must have been to continuously decide to keep going back in.”

About half a dozen other civilians and several police also attempted rescues, but Davidian was the only one who survived to share his story.

“It's really important because terrorism does not live in one place,” said Rabbi David Baron, who invited Davidian to L.A. to share his story during the Jewish High Holy Days at the Temple of the Arts. “Even though it impacted Israel so intensely – over 1,200 killed which is the equivalent of 40,000 Americans being killed - it's still something that can occur in our country and in other places in the world. And unless there is an ongoing unified response to terrorism, we won't vanquish it.”

And yet, despite the film’s universally positive reception — and its heroic, inspirational message — it’s questionable that this documentary by Israeli TV station Reshet 13 and others will ever be screened widely in America, let alone broadcast or streamed on American television.

In such a cautious climate, it’s difficult to imagine how a new documentary like “Oz’s List” could possibly find a home in Hollywood. “We’re in a topsy-turvy world,” says Garth Ancier, a TV executive who worked at NBC and Fox and headed BBC America.

Ancier said he has both Jewish and Arab friends and what they have in common is that both sides are very narrow in their view, and only see one side: “I generally try to talk them off that ledge. But it's hard. And it is getting harder because of the way it’s going down over there.”

Bill Mechanic, a top Hollywood producer and former Twentieth Century Fox studio head, added that some streamers have mixed views about controversial documentaries.

Bill Mechanic

“A lot of stuff the streamers are doing is soft pedaling sports and things like music, but the documentary is a different form,” said Mechanic, adding: “There are people who’ve got balls and there are people who ain't got balls, you know? So the people afraid of their shadows, who live to protect their jobs, are not going to want to take a chance. And there are people who’ll do it because they believe in what they're doing. You’ve just got to find those people.”

However, streaming media consultant Dan Rayburn, who chaired the Streaming Summit at the NAB convention, is skeptical about U.S. distribution.

“Obviously the content in this video is graphic,” said Rayburn. “So you’re going to see more pushback from these streaming services. You're showing dead bodies on the ground. That's not really something they want on their platform.”

Rayburn noted that a show like ‘Frontline’, using third party journalists, might tackle such a story, but said it would not be likely to ever be seen on Netflix. “Even ’60 Minutes’ which does some great stories like that, you'll notice they're not showing anything that graphic,” he added.

“And what about rating it, right?” said Rayburn. “They have to have a MPA rating,’ is this NC 17?’ That gets very tricky when you're talking about war, and actually showing real life dead people on the street like this video is.”

Those fears cast a wide shadow across Hollywood right now, and nobody here is anxious to embrace content that touches on what’s been going on in the Middle East over the last 14 months. You can’t entirely blame them; the subject has become a third rail in the entertainment industry, a radioactive topic that has already burned a number of people who have bravely – or foolishly – broached it.

After it was learned in December 2023 that Hamas had killed six Israeli hostages, WME Agent Brandt Joel furiously wrote on a pro-Israel WhatsApp group, “Screw the left kill all.”

Brandt quickly deleted the post and explained to his colleagues in a Zoom call he only meant “kill” members of Hamas, but the damage had been done: one of his top clients, Mahershala Ali, abruptly fired him.

On the other side of the political divide, actress Susan Sarandon, who has a long history of activism, was dropped by her talent agency after she declared at an anti-Israel rally that Jews facing increased anti-Semitism are “getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslin” in America.

Polarized views on the subject have even made older content, released before the Hamas attack and Israel’s Gaza offensive, newly controversial. The Netflix series “Fauda,” for instance, which earned praise for its strong storytelling when it premiered in 2016, has faced criticism in its fourth season, which began in 2023, for glorifying the occupation of Palestinian lands. “The Occupation of the American Mind,” a 2016 documentary delving into how the Israeli government supposedly uses its influence to shape American media, has drawn recent fire from both sides, with Jewish critics calling

it anti-Semitic and Arabs claiming it distorts their cause.

Likewise the 2018 Egyptian spy thriller “The Angel,” set during the Six Day War in 1967, has been blasted by both sides for its portrayals.

Reshet 13 has put the brakes on their plans. Producer Rinat Klein, who last year produced “We Will Dance Again,” a documentary about the Oct. 7 attack that aired on Paramount+ with some success, said they have plans to refine the “Oz” documentary for a global audience, even though it has already aired on Israeli television.

Sales agent Hedva Goldschmidt said they plan an “international’ version of the “Oz” documentary.

That may include “some ‘cosmetic change,’ “such as changing my narration to English, or inserting some new images that we have received after the rough cut, so we might make a bigger impression in terms of selling and publishing it,” said producer Yossi Eli, an Israeli war correspondent who has put his heart into “Oz” without taking upfront compensation.

Producer Yossi Eli at Beverly Hills premiere of his documentary

He said they are also considering expanding the concept into “a feature film,” which he said may eventually be a “stand alone drama different from the documentary.”

Goldschmidt has already began presenting a trailer and other materials about the new version to American and international cinema buyers.

“ I think that it should be seen in other parts of the world, if possible, considering there's such a need to get out the message that the Jews are not monsters who are killing people in Gaza because they just want to, but rather that Hamas started this war,” said Klein. “I love this country. The idea that there's missiles coming in from Lebanon and so forth, randomly, and that people could be killed is very frightening. So many people would love to destroy Israel, even though it's given so much to the world in terms of medicine, all kinds of things. So I would like to have the right image shown in the United States, in particular.”

Efforts are also underway to submit “Oz’s List” for awards and upcoming film and TV festivals, led by Los Angeles filmmakers Dan and Zahara Israely, who produced the movie “Papa” now airing on Amazon.

Davidian, meanwhile, has kept a low profile after being quoted in a flurry of stories in Israel right after Oct. 7. He lives with his wife and four daughters on his farm in Southern Israel, continues his law work, and acts as a liaison for Israel to the Bedouin population. A number of Bedouin’s came to the rescue of the Israelis on Oct. 7 and were killed or taken hostage.

Davidian did agree to cooperate with this documentary at the urging of many of those he rescued, who he has kept in touch with. Several are quoted in the documentary expressing their thanks and calling him a hero.

Whether Davidian’s story will ever be told around the world is to be seen but he remains focused on a broader message: