Box Office: ‘NAZA,’ Documentary About Israel’s Attacks on Gaza That Was Too Hot for Distributors, Crosses $500,000 — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- "NAZA" earned more than $125,000 at NYC's IFC Center over its first eight days, then expanded to 85 theaters across 30 North American cities, crossing $500,000 in two weeks of self-distributed release.
- "NAZA" grossed $298,240 over the three-day weekend and an estimated $378,200 over the four-day holiday, bringing its expected domestic total to $504,074 by Monday.
- "NAZA" is directed by Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham (the "No Other Land" team) and features anonymous IDF sources detailing how AI and phone surveillance have been used to identify targets and cause mass civilian casualties in Gaza.
- "NAZA" was deemed too controversial for prominent indie studios; its release is being led by producers The Guardian and mk2, with free streaming set for The Guardian's site beginning in November.
- "NAZA" received a 25-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, won the Special Jury Prize, and is considered a top contender at the Oscars.
- Israeli officials — IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir, PM Netanyahu, and the culture minister — condemned the film, with Zamir pledging "every tool at our disposal" to halt its release and Netanyahu suggesting interviewees could be stripped of citizenship.
- "No Other Land", also self-distributed, went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary — establishing the path Szor and Abraham are now taking with "NAZA."
Why it matters: A self-distributed documentary on Israeli military operations in Gaza crossed $500,000 after major indie studios refused to handle it — even as IDF chief Eyal Zamir pledged "every tool at our disposal" to halt its release and Netanyahu floated citizenship revocation for anonymous sources. The film's commercial traction under those conditions mirrors the Oscar-winning path of its creators' prior film, proving a viable self-release model for politically unsanctioned nonfiction.
Ask SkimNews
