The filmmakers behind the 2024 documentary No Other Land have experienced numerous ups and downs since the movie won Best Documentary at the 2025 Oscars: Mere weeks after the ceremony, co-director Hamdan Ballal was arrested by Israeli authorities after being attacked by West Bank settlers. In July 2025, a consultant on the film was shot and killed. And now co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor are being targeted by the Israeli government, as Israeli Minister of Culture Miki Zohar has said the filmmakers’ new film NAZA “constitutes treason.”
Controversy Surrounds New Film NAZA
The Venice Film Festival’s official synopsis of NAZA explains that “the film reveals in detail the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.” The Hollywood Reporter writes that Zohar has used his X account to make multiple comments on NAZA‘s festival premiere, including the declaration that “I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for betraying the state.”
Abraham and Szor, in their directors’ statement, reveal that:
They made this film out of a sense of obligation to use their position as Israelis to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which their country is responsible. While filming over the past three years, they found themselves asking the very questions that were asked by their grandparents’ generation and throughout the 20th century: how does one group of people allow the total dehumanisation of another? What do the inner workings of such a system look like?
Revelations in the Film
Many of the revelations in the film were published almost immediately as they learned of them, in the months following the October 7th attacks, by The Guardian (one of NAZA’s producers), in collaboration with reporting partners +972 Magazine and Local Call. The film lets them explore something deeper than they could in their investigative journalism alone: not only the words being said but also those that are not said, the silence. It is up to all of us to break that silence.
Awards and Distribution
Over the weekend, NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at Venice, leading Zohar to further comment that “The win of the vile film NAZA at the Venice Festival is shocking. The self-loathing that burns in the creators, who are willing to harm their homeland just to get applause from antisemites around the world, is inconceivable and constitutes a betrayal of the state… As Minister of Culture, I will act immediately to revoke the Israeli citizenship of these despicable creators for betraying the state.”
According to THR, NAZA does not currently have distribution in Israel. However, the filmmakers hope to release it as widely as possible there — as well as in the United States and Germany.
In conclusion, the controversy surrounding NAZA has sparked a heated debate about the film’s portrayal of Israel’s actions in Gaza. The filmmakers’ courage in tackling this sensitive topic has been recognized with the Special Jury Prize at Venice, and it will be interesting to see how the film is received in the coming months. With its thought-provoking themes and revelations, NAZA is sure to be a significant player in the world of documentary filmmaking.
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