Oscar-Winning Directors of 'No Other Land' Set Venice Premiere for New Gaza Documentary 'Naza'

Filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who are two of the four directors behind the Oscar-winning Palestinian-Israeli documentary No Other Land, are preparing to premiere a new film addressing the killing of civilians in Gaza at the Venice Film Festival.

Titled Naza, the film has been added to the festival’s main competition and is scheduled for its world premiere on September 10. This late addition completes the 21-film line-up, establishing it as the sole documentary feature competing for the Golden Lion.

According to the official synopsis, the film was shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv and details the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The title itself refers to a military acronym utilized by Israeli intelligence to denote the anticipated number of civilian casualties in a planned air strike, as explained by the filmmakers.

Naza draws upon investigations published between 2023 and 2025 by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, and The Guardian, though the production announcement has not specified which exact findings will be featured.

Yuval Abraham authored several of those reports, including a 2024 investigation drawing on interviews with six Israeli intelligence officers. That report alleged that the military utilized an AI-powered system known as Lavender to generate a list of 37,000 potential targets linked to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, with officers conducting minimal checks on selections. The Israeli military previously rejected these claims.

Naza is produced by The Guardian and British producer James Wilson, with Jonathan Glazer serving as executive producer. Previously, Wilson and Glazer collaborated on The Zone of Interest, which secured the 2024 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor previously created No Other Land alongside Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal. That documentary chronicled the struggle against the forced displacement of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta within the occupied West Bank, making history as the first Palestinian production to win an Oscar when it received Best Documentary Feature in 2025.

The Venice Film Festival programme also features other works by Palestinian directors, including Ahmed Hassouna’s Gaza documentary Citizen Osama and Muayad Alayan’s Jerusalem-set drama Conversation With the Sea. Additionally, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania will serve on the main competition jury. The 83rd Venice Film Festival is set to run from September 2 to 12.