Nearly three years after the Nova music festival massacre, Rita Yedid is still telling the story of October 7.
But the story she tells now is not only about the day she survived. It is about what came after: guilt, therapy, motherhood, marriage, and the work of turning trauma into purpose.
That journey is at the centre of Rita, a 55-minute documentary directed by Asaf Sudry and Tali Shemesh, which premiered at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque on May 27.
“From the beginning, we had a clear idea that this would be a film about a woman who went to a party and what happened next,” said Raquela Cohen, Yedid’s manager.
“In many ways, it’s more of an ‘October 8th’ film than an October 7th film, because it focuses on Rita’s transformation from being solely a survivor in the immediate throes of trauma to becoming a motivational speaker and someone determined to help others.”
Yedid was born in Russia and moved to Israel as a baby. Her family settled in Ashdod, which she still calls her hometown.
Before October 7, she had recently opened a property-management business.
“Everything was successful and great,” she said. “I was expanding and about to sign many more leases. And then October 7 happened.”
She went to Nova with her younger sister Eden and her husband Guy. Their two-year-old son, Om, was with Yedid’s mother in Ashdod.
When the attack began, Yedid, Guy and Eden hid with others in the festival’s ticket booth.
Guy lay on top of Rita, shielding her with his body, and was shot three times as bullets tore through the booth.
At one point, Rita recalled, a man from Gaza came in and robbed the people hiding there. Then, in a detail that stayed with her for its almost unbearable absurdity, he wished them a good day and left.
When Israeli soldiers finally reached the area, Rita stood up desperately, trying to make herself seen and understood, a moment suspended between massacre and rescue.
Then another kind of pain began. Someone gave Rita something clean to wear, and she accepted it. Later, she realised she had not asked for anything for Eden. It was a small detail beside the scale of the massacre, but for Rita it became part of the guilt she had to carry and work through.
“I feel I didn’t help enough,” she said. “But to keep punishing myself over it is also not a good idea.”
Over time, she said, guilt changed shape. “The guilt, with time, turns into sorrow,” she said. “I understand it’s not my fault, but it still sits in my throat.
“When I see parents of those who didn’t survive, or their siblings, my heart, my body, everything shrinks,” she said.
“How do you stand in front of this person? Should I be sorry? Should I hug them? Should I walk away?”
Despite the trauma, Rita credits the Nova community with helping survivors find a way back into life. The support, she said, was not only formal therapy, but community days, mentoring, sport, creativity and the knowledge that someone understood.
“If I need anything, I’m not calling Bituach Leumi [the government social service],” she said. “I’m calling the Nova community.”
Rita’s marriage also became part of the aftermath. Guy had saved her life but he had also nearly lost his own. Asked about their relationship now, Yedid said simply: “It’s complicated.
“When you stay alive after this huge trauma, it gives you perspective not to get stuck,” she said. “I prefer not to be victimised and say, ‘That’s all I have, that’s all I got, this is life.’ I prefer the other side.”
After the massacre, Yedid received therapy through SafeHeart, the organisation that supports Nova survivors. Sudry and Shemesh filmed her in the therapy room in March 2024.
Later, when Yedid began giving talks at the Nova site in Re’im, she realised she had something rare: footage of herself at the beginning of the process.
“I was one of the only survivors with footage from six months after Nova,” she said. “It was very raw. I was not who I am today. I was a completely different person. I realised how broken I was.
“It is important for people to know that there is a way out of trauma. The trauma is still there. It is with me for ever. But there is a journey,” she said.
“If people can take my story as an example and become stronger, more fulfilled, and understand that they have a mission and a purpose, then I have reached my goal.”
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