Venice-winning Gaza documentary ‘NAZA’ set for European release

Global release has been announced for award-winning Gaza documentary ‘NAZA’, which has sparked a political storm in Israel. Following its theatrical rollout in 56 territories around the world, ‘NAZA’ will be made available to global audiences for free on the website of the UK newspaper The Guadian.

The award-winning documentary NAZA is set to be released in cinemas across 56 countries, including European territories.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, where it was met with a 25-minute standing ovation – a festival record – and was awarded the Special Jury Prize.

NAZA shows “in detail the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” according to its official synopsis. It builds on reporting between 2023 and 2025 published by the Israeli-Palestinian +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, and The Guardian.

A theatrical release in partnership with French sales company MK2 Films is planned at the end of September and during October in territories including the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Greece, Denmark, Norway, as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Brazil and Central America.

After its run in cinemas, the film will stream on the Guardian’s website, for free.

The film has also “been offered to a number of distributors and cinemas in Israel,” a statement said, and The Guardian stated that they will be exploring other ways to enable the film to be seen in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“NAZA is grounded in rigorous journalism published over the past three years,” said Harry Davies, a Guardian investigations correspondent and one of NAZA’s producers. “But it is also a powerful piece of cinema that will soon be available on screens, large and small, around the world.”

NAZA was shot in secrecy at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv during the ongoing Gaza war, and features interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers, soldiers and whistleblowers. They describe how Palestinians are targeted and how strikes are carried out despite Israel being aware that civilians are present in targeted areas – hence the title of the film, a military acronym used by Israeli Military Forces to refer to the number of civilians expected to be killed in an airstrike in Gaza. It stands for “Nezek Agavi”: collateral damage.

The participants’ faces and voices were digitally altered to protect their identities.

Since its premiere in Venice, NAZA and its filmmakers, Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, have been under the spotlight as the film has sparked a political storm in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the makers of the documentary, accusing them of contributing to “global antisemitic incitement”.

“It’s shocking. We are fighting global antisemitic incitement and when it comes from within us it is intolerable,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on Telegram. “And now two Israeli directors portraying the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) as war criminals receive applause at the Venice festival.”

Netanyahu’s attack on the film has been interpretated as a reflection of his concern for its potential impact on the upcoming Israeli elections, which are set for 27 October. His comments also followed those of Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar, who directly equated criticism of Israel’s actions to antisemitism and announced that he would “act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship” of the Israeli directing duo Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

Zohar called NAZA “vile” and the Venice Film Festival honour “shocking,” adding: “The self-loathing that burns in the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland just to get applause from antisemites around the world, is inconceivable and constitutes a betrayal of the state.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also described Abraham and Szor as a “disgrace and an embarrassment” and told them to leave the country. “I am certain that your friends, that is to say our enemies Hamas in Gaza, will welcome you with open arms,” he wrote on X.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s previous film, No Other Land, was released in 2024 and followed Israeli settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary.

Last week, 43 local human rights organisations issued a joint statement urging Israeli authorities to stop what they described as incitement and threats against the filmmakers, and not to prosecute either them or their sources.

More than 1,500 Israeli filmmakers have also signed a petition defending “freedom of expression and creation” and expressing solidarity with Szor and Abraham.

“In recent days, we have witnessed an unprecedented campaign of vilification and incitement against the film’s creators,” it says, warning that the rhetoric was moving increasingly close to “effectively sanctioning violence” and posed a physical threat to their lives.

Tricia Tuttle, director of the Berlin Film Festival, said: “Artists must be free to critically examine the world. Films can provoke discussion, disagreement and criticism, but in a democratic society, the response to art must be dialogue and scrutiny, not intimidation or punishment by the state. Our team at the Berlinale stands with Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and all artists who exercise these rights.”

NAZA will screen at the New York Film Festival on 26 September. A theatrical rollout will commence in the US afterwards and in Europe as soon as 9 October.

Source: www.euronews.com