TEL AVIV / VENICE — The documentary that earned Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival is now the centre of a domestic political firestorm. NAZA, an 80-minute investigation into how Israel’s military has waged its campaign in Gaza, drew a reported 24.5-to-25-minute standing ovation at its premiere — among the longest ovations recorded at the festival — then returned home as “treason” in the mouths of protesters and ministers.
The film is the only documentary that competed in Venezia 83’s main lineup. It is produced by The Guardian and JW Films (James Wilson), with Jonathan Glazer among the executive producers — the Oscar-winning Zone of Interest team. Abraham and Szor were two of the four directors of 2025’s Best Documentary winner No Other Land.
What “NAZA” means on screen
According to the Biennale Cinema synopsis and interviews the directors gave Variety, the film was shot at night on Tel Aviv rooftops and features anonymised interviews with 24 Israeli military and intelligence personnel. Voices and appearances were digitally altered. The title is military slang drawn from Hebrew nezek agavi — “collateral damage” — used, the filmmakers say, to mark how many civilians an airstrike is expected to kill.
ABC News reports that interviewees describe an AI-assisted targeting system fed by data from thousands of hacked mobile phones. Abraham told interviewers the pair felt an obligation, as Israelis, to bring “insider testimony” into how that system looks from within. Much of the underlying reporting, they note in their directors’ statement, first appeared in The Guardian with +972 Magazine and Local Call.
Applause abroad, megaphones at home
Abroad, the reception was rapturous: Euronews and AFP covered the record ovation and the Special Jury Prize awarded on 12 September 2026. At home, ABC’s Caitlin Kelly and Sami Sockol report that clips circulating ahead of any public theatrical release triggered protests outside a director’s parents’ home in Tel Aviv, with demonstrators calling the film “an act of treason from within” and demanding the filmmakers be “expelled.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would promote legislation — which he labelled the “NAZA laws” — against defamation of Israeli soldiers and the state, and threatened to revoke citizenship from anyone who “defames IDF soldiers in the world.” Culture Minister Miki Zohar said he had asked the head of Israel’s internal secret service to examine how materials reached the filmmakers and to consider citizenship revocation, while also demanding investigation of the soldiers who spoke. IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir ordered a probe into unauthorised disclosure of classified material and called the film an attack on Israel as a whole.
The Committee to Protect Journalists described Netanyahu’s statement as a “dangerous escalation” and urged authorities to end the campaign against Abraham and Szor. The directors have not returned to Israel since the Venice screening; Abraham has deleted his social media accounts.
Next screens, still no wide release
NAZA was due at San Sebastián on 23 September and at the New York Film Festival on 26 September, Euronews reported, with MK2 Films handling world sales. As of ABC’s 19 September report, it is not publicly available in any country. Commentators in Israel argue the backlash could colour the coming election cycle — a reminder that festival gold and domestic politics are no longer separate theatres.
This article draws on ABC News (19 September 2026), Variety’s Venice interview, the Biennale Cinema NAZA page, and Euronews’ ovation report. Quotes follow those outlets.