‘NAZA’ Directors Bring Gaza Destruction Doc to NYFF: This Is ‘Being Done With Taxpayer Money From People Sitting Here’

Following the premiere of “NAZA” at New York Film Festival on Saturday, the documentary’s co-director Yuval Abraham emphasized the importance of screening the film for a North American audience, underlining that the U.S. government funds the Israeli military attacks in Gaza depicted in the feature. “It’s important for us to see this film at this moment, as you were saying, because these older officials are talking about what is being done with taxpayer money from people sitting here,” said Abraham onstage (as reported by Variety). “This is what your country is supporting and funding … Part of the goal (of this film) is to make denial of what’s going on in Gaza harder.” Abraham’s comments came after the screening, when he was joined on-stage for a Q&A by his co-director, Rachel Szor, and NYFF director Dennis Lim. “NAZA” investigates the ongoing Gaza war, featuring testimony from anonymous Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers, including one subject that states that the IDF approved an airstrike that could kill 500 Palestinians — a claim that the IDF has denied. The documentary takes its title from a military acronym used by the IDF to measure the number of civilians expected to be killed as collateral damage in an airstrike. The feature reunites Abraham and Szor, whose prior doc “No Other Land” (co-directed by Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballaltracked) tracked settler violence in the occupied West Bank and won the Oscar for best documentary feature in 2025. Produced by the Guardian and mk2, “NAZA” premiered at Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded with the organization’s special jury prize. Following its debut, Israel’s government moved to revoke the citizenship of directors Szor and Abraham, with the country’s cultural minister releasing a statement saying, “Anyone who acts against Israel during wartime must know that there will be a price to pay.” “NAZA” will open at IFC Center in New York City on Wednesday, followed by an Oct. 9 expansion to other U.S. cities as part of a self-distributed model. Producers are planning theatrical releases across 55 other territories, including occupied Palestine, before launching a free, global release on The Guardian’s website in late November.