The Venice Film Festival has added NAZA, a documentary examining Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, to the main competition of its 83rd edition. Directed by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the film is the only documentary among the 21 titles competing for the festival’s Golden Lion this year.
NAZA is scheduled to have its world premiere on September 10 at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from September 2 to 12, 2026. The film has a runtime of 80 minutes and is listed by the festival as a United Kingdom production from The Guardian and JW Films. It is in Hebrew and English.
Abraham and Szor are two of the four directors behind No Other Land, the documentary that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2025. The film, made with Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra and Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, documented the destruction and displacement of a Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank.
Their new documentary focuses on Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza and investigates the mechanisms used in airstrikes and the resulting civilian deaths. According to the film’s official description, NAZA was filmed at night from rooftops in Tel Aviv. Its investigation draws on reporting published between 2023 and 2025 by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call.
The title NAZA refers to a military acronym that the filmmakers say is used by Israeli intelligence in connection with estimating expected civilian casualties from airstrikes. The documentary examines how such estimates are incorporated into decisions surrounding military strikes.
The film is produced by The Guardian in collaboration with JW Films, Placeholder Films and Unseen Hand. James Wilson, who produced The Zone of Interest, is a producer on NAZA, while Jonathan Glazer, the director of The Zone of Interest, serves as executive producer. Wilson and Glazer both received Academy Awards for The Zone of Interest.
The Venice selection gives NAZA a prominent position within this year’s competition. The festival’s official competition is limited to a maximum of 21 feature-length films, making the documentary the final addition to the 2026 lineup. It will compete alongside films from established directors including Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
The film also continues Venice’s recent inclusion of cinema dealing with the Israel-Gaza conflict. In 2025, The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, received the festival’s Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize. The film tells the story of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child who was killed in Gaza in 2024.
NAZA is therefore entering Venice with an established filmmaking team, an investigative foundation and a subject that has received significant international attention. Its September 10 premiere will mark the film’s first public screening and will place it in competition for the Golden Lion, the festival’s top award.
