Gaza Doc 'NAZA' Sets Record With 25-Minute Venice Ovation — SkimNews
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- NAZA received a 25-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival world premiere, setting a new record for any film at a major festival and surpassing The Voice of Hind Rajab's roughly 24 minutes and Pan's Labyrinth's 22 minutes.
- Abraham and Szor built the documentary from interviews with 24 Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers who describe AI-driven, phone surveillance-based, points-based target selection systems the Israeli military uses in Gaza.
- Abraham told Deadline the film's central revelation is that "the basic targeting unit of the Israeli targeting systems is a family home in Gaza," with targets struck in civilian spaces regardless of whether children and family members would be killed.
- The title NAZA comes from the Israeli military's Hebrew acronym describing the estimated number of civilians who could die in a strike.
- Audience members unfurled Palestinian and Lebanese flags as the lights came up; festival director Alberto Barbera was present, joined the ovation, and warmly embraced both directors.
- The Palestinian flag has become a flashpoint at Venice this year amid calls to fly it from the Palazzo del Cinema; Barbera said the Venice Biennale cannot fly it because Italy does not officially recognize Palestine as a state.
- NAZA is produced by Guardian Documentaries with JW Films, with executive producer Jonathan Glazer and producer James Wilson — the Oscar-winning team behind The Zone of Interest — both attached, and Voice of Hind Rajab director Kaouther Ben Hania present as a juror.
Why it matters: The premiere places firsthand Israeli military testimony about Gaza targeting practices in front of an A-list festival audience, and the record ovation — paired with a Palestinian flag display security chose not to stop — shows how completely the Gaza war has reshaped cultural spaces that previously avoided overt political gestures.
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