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Gaza Documentary Earns Record Standing Ovation
Variety • • general
Key Points:
- The documentary "NAZA," directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, received a record-breaking 24.5-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere, the longest ever at Venice and possibly any major film festival.
- "NAZA" exposes the Israeli military's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, featuring secret rooftop interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers, and explains the term "NAZA," an Israeli intelligence acronym for expected collateral damage.
- The film was a late addition to Venice's competition, completed after three years of work, and is produced by The Guardian and JW Films, with Oscar-winning director Jonathan Glazer as executive producer.
- Abraham and Szor previously co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," which addresses Israeli government efforts to displace Palestinians, and they aimed to use their insider access to reveal what human rights groups describe as genocide.
- Last year, the Gaza-set documentary "The Voice of Hind Rajab" received a 22-minute ovation at Venice, previously the festival’s longest, highlighting the ongoing focus on Israeli-Palestinian conflict documentaries at the festival.
