Gaza Documentary ‘NAZA’ To Be Presented at Venice Film Festival

The upcoming documentary NAZA, which investigates the civilian toll and military tracking systems in Gaza, will premiere at the Venice Film Festival as the sole documentary competing for the Golden Lion.

Organizers of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival have added NAZA to complete their main competition roster.

Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (two of the co-directors behind the Oscar-winning Israeli-Palestinian documentary No Other Land) the film stands as the only documentary among the 21 features vying for the festival’s top prize, Golden Lion Award.

Production and Creative Team

The project is a collaborative effort involving prominent international names in independent cinema and journalism:

• Production: Produced by The Guardian alongside James Wilson’s company, JW Films.
• Executive Production: Jonathan Glazer, director of the Academy Award-winning feature The Zone of Interest, serves as executive producer alongside Wilson, reuniting the core creative team behind the Holocaust drama.

The film expands upon joint investigative reporting conducted between 2023 and 2025 by The Guardian, alongside the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language publication Local Call.

Premise and Festival Premiere

Shot at night from the rooftops of Tel Aviv, NAZA examines what filmmakers describe as calculated methodologies behind martyrdom of Palestinians in Gaza.

The title itself stems from an Israeli military acronym reportedly used by intelligence units to designate estimated civilian casualties expected from a given airstrike.

The film is scheduled to premiere on September 10 in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema. The screening will take place in the presence of the directors, producers, journalists from The Guardian, and an official delegation.