Directors Rachel Szor, and Yuval Abraham pose for photographers at the photo call for the film ‘Naza’ during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP
NAZA, the chilling documentary feature by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Racel Szor, received a 24 minute standing ovation after its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Thursday (September 10, 2026).The documentary draws on investigative reporting published between 2023 and 2025 by +972 Magazine, Local Call and The Guardian. It was shot in secret on rooftops in Tel Aviv across three years and its subjects’ identities are obscured, with digital alterations of their voices and appearances. Abraham and Szor spoke to 24 different Israeli miliary and intelligence whistleblowers, who spoke with condition of anonymity.“We just told these officers and soldiers, please describe to us what you did,” Abraham said in a news conference on Thursday. “Of course there were other questions that arose but the principal question was a question of detail — sketch it for us, we want to know how it worked. And sometimes just asking the question, you get answers.”The film’s title references an Israeli military acronym used as a shorthand for civilian casualties, including men, women and children. The filmmakers and producers were inspired by The Zone of Interest filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s note that in his film the victims are out of the frame, but never out of mind.“We felt that by focusing too much on these feelings of remorse or guilt that exist, we would be taking away from the core of the film,” Abraham said. “And the core of the film is a system of killing that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza — estimates say the real number is much higher — the way it worked and the way the world allowed it to happen. This is the heart of what we want to do.”Abraham and Szor are two of the four directors of the 2025 best documentary winner No Other Land, the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military. A collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, the film was made between 2019 and 2023.NAZA is produced by The Guardian and British producer James Wilson of JW Films, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer serving as executive producer. Wilson and Glazer previously worked together on The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, which won the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival.(With inputs from AP) Published - September 11, 2026 11:24 am IST
