Filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who won an Oscar for “No Other Land” and sparked furious reactions in Israel, are back with a new film called “NAZA”—about the war in Gaza, but from the wrong angle. The film examines systems that its creators claim are behind what they call the “calculated mass killing” of civilians in Gaza. On Monday, it was added to the official competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, where it will premiere worldwide on September 10.
1+The film is based on investigations published between 2023 and 2025 in media outlets known for criticizing Israel, including +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian. Even the film’s name (NAZA) carries an anti-Israeli flavor—it’s taken from the IDF acronym “nezek agavi” (collateral damage), a term referring to uninvolved civilians who may be harmed as a result of strikes not directed at them.
According to The Guardian, the term appears throughout the film and is used to describe the number of civilians that intelligence “predicts will be killed in an airstrike.” Their previous film, “No Other Land,” which depicted ‘Palestinian’ incursions into the Firing Zone 918 area in the southern Hebron Hills, won the Oscar last year for Best Documentary Feature.
1+That film told the story of a family from the area and painted a picture of dispossession and occupation, portraying IDF soldiers and Israeli residents of the area as criminals. The filmmakers completely ignored facts and other aspects that damage the image of the story’s protagonists. They even claimed at the time that “IDF soldiers and ‘settlers’ exploited the war to lead campaigns of killing, shooting, and threats.”