Venice Film Festival adds Gaza doc ‘NAZA’ to competition lineup

The Venice Film Festival has added a new documentary about the civilian toll of the Israel-Hamas war to its lineup. “NAZA,” from two of the filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” will screen in the main competition, festival organizers said Monday.

According to the synopsis, the film was shot at night on Tel Aviv rooftops and focuses on the killings of Palestinian civilians. Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor co-directed “Naza,” which was produced by The Guardian and filmmakers behind “The Zone of Interest.” It’s the only documentary competing for the Golden Lion award.

Abraham and Szor were two of the four directors of the 2025 best documentary winner “No Other Land,” the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military. A collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, it was made over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before Hamas launched its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza.

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“Naza” builds on reporting between 2023 and 2025 published by the Israeli-Palestinian +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and The Guardian.

The war was top of mind at last year’s festival as well, where thousands gathered for a large pro-Palestinian protest during one of the busiest nights in hopes of redirecting the spotlight from the movie stars to the real world. The subject was also prominent in the program: Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about the death of a 6-year-old girl attempting to flee Gaza City with her family in early 2024, won the festival’s Silver Lion award.

Ben Hania is part of the Maggie Gyllenhaal-led jury that will be selecting the award winners at the festival, which begins on Sept. 2. Winners will be announced on Sept. 12.

Earlier this year, the Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition opened with no Golden Lions after the jury quit in protest of Israel’s and Russia’s participation and loud protests outside their pavilions. In 2024 the artist and curators representing Israel at the Venice Biennale kept the Israeli pavilion exhibit closed, saying they would only open it if there were a ceasefire in Gaza.