This image released by the Venice FIlm Festival shows a scene from ‘NAZA’, a documentary directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
| Photo Credit: Venice Film Festival via AP
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival has completed its Competition selection with NAZA, making it the only documentary among the 21 films competing for the Golden Lion this year. Directed by Israeli filmmakers Abraham and Szor, the film will have its world premiere on September 10 at the Sala Grande.
NAZA examines the civilian toll of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. According to the festival’s official synopsis, the film was shot at night from rooftops in Tel Aviv and investigates the systems behind what the filmmakers describe as the calculated killing of Palestinian civilians. The documentary draws on investigative reporting published between 2023 and 2025 by +972 Magazine, Local Call and The Guardian.
Abraham and Szor were two of the four directors behind No Other Land, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2025. That film followed the destruction of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank and the efforts of Palestinian activists resisting displacement.
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.
The addition gives this year’s Venice Competition another politically charged film centred on the genocide in Gaza. Last year’s festival featured The Voice of Hind Rajab, which dramatized the final hours of a Palestinian girl trapped in a car in Gaza and went on to receive the festival’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Ben Hania is also serving on this year’s Venice jury, headed by president Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The title NAZA refers to a military acronym used by Israeli intelligence in relation to anticipated civilian casualties from airstrikes, according to The Guardian, which is producing the film. The project therefore continues Abraham and Szor’s focus on documenting the mechanisms and consequences of military occupation and violence through investigative filmmaking.
The 2026 Venice Competition now comprises 21 films, with NAZA joining works from filmmakers including Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh, Werner Herzog, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lance Oppenheim and Casey Affleck. The festival runs from September 2 to September 12, with the Golden Lion winner to be announced on the closing day.
NAZA will premiere at Venice on September 10, 2026, where it will become the sole documentary competing for this year’s Golden Lion.
Published – August 25, 2026 01:07 pm IST
