NAZA made its U.S. debut at the IFC Center in New York this past Wednesday, quickly selling out most shows through the weekend and projecting an impressive $70,000-plus in its first five days. Its initial success signals a strong appetite for the documentary, which is set to expand to over 60 theaters across 30 markets next weekend. This follows a Special Jury Prize win at Venice, where it received a remarkable 25-minute standing ovation, and a recent showing at the New York Film Festival. Critically, the film boasts a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 32 reviews, as reported by Deadline.
The documentary, produced by The Guardian and James Wilson’s JW Films, with Jonathan Glazer (known for The Zone of Interest) serving as executive producer, offers a stark and unvarnished look at the conflict. Its deceptively simple premise sees director Yuval Abraham interviewing 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers on Tel Aviv rooftops at night. These individuals, filmed in silhouette with digitally altered voices, recount the destruction of residential areas in Gaza and the devastating loss of Palestinian civilian lives.
The film's title, NAZA, is an acronym used by the Israel Defense Forces to denote "collateral damage" – specifically, the acceptable number of civilian casualties incurred during operations targeting suspected Hamas militants. The interviews suggest this number is alarmingly fluid, ranging from a few to potentially hundreds of lives deemed permissible.
Unsurprisingly, NAZA has ignited a firestorm of controversy. The Israeli government has vehemently denied the film's claims, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly threatened to revoke the filmmakers' citizenship and introduce legislation that would criminalize criticism of the Israeli armed forces. Due to this significant backlash, Abraham and Szor did not appear at opening Q&A sessions in the U.S. or Israel.
Yuval Abraham, an investigative journalist who has previously collaborated with The Guardian on reporting from Gaza, emphasized the film's raw, testimonial approach. "The doc has no narration, no infographics, just testimonials," he stated, explaining his role was to listen and document, not to scold, especially given the anticipated reactions. He noted that while atrocities in Gaza have been documented for years, "they’re allowed to continue in part because many people are denying them. Part of our hope is that by making this film, we will make that denial a little bit harder."
Co-director Rachel Szor, who also served as the main cinematographer, explained the choice of Tel Aviv as a filming location. Despite being considered a liberal city, "no one there talks about Gaza," she observed. "Either they’re justifying it, or there’s just no place for it to even be spoken about. So we really wanted these words, these testimonies in Hebrew, from soldiers, from officers, be spoken against the background of a city like Tel Aviv."
Internationally, French sales company mk2 films has secured deals in 56 markets, and the film has already seen a strong opening in Italy, grossing €1.81 million ($2.1 million). In a move aimed at maximizing reach, The Guardian plans to stream the documentary internationally for free within six to eight weeks.
This isn't the first impactful documentary from Abraham and Szor; they were also part of the collective behind the 2024 Oscar-winning film No Other Land, which chronicled the destruction of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank and the alliance between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Abraham.
The film arrives amidst a broader context of intense scrutiny on the Israel-Gaza conflict, following Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages taken. The Palestinian death toll, as cited in the source, has surpassed 74,000, including many civilians. NAZA thus serves as a powerful, if provocative, cinematic contribution to the ongoing global conversation surrounding the conflict.