UPDATE: I don’t usually pay much attention to timed ovations—they often feel meaningless—but can you even imagine standing and clapping for a record-breaking 25 minutes straight at the end of a film? That’s exactly what happened at Venice for “NAZA.” That’s a festival record. Attendees are reportedly now at home soothing their sore hands in a giant bowl of ice.
EARLIER: I arrived in Toronto last night, which meant that I missed “NAZA,” a new work by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four co-directors of the 2025 Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.”
The synopsis: “Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, the film reveals in detail the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
The film, a late addition to the Venice lineup, is drawing raves — 96 on Metacritic—and looks like a clear Golden Lion contender. The reviews: The Guardian(4/5), THR, Screen, IndieWire (A), IONCINEMA(4/5), Next Best Picture(9/10).
In just 80 minutes, shot on Tel Aviv rooftops, Szor and Abraham sit down with anonymous IDF sources who lay out their methods in words and sketches. The title "NAZA" comes from an acronym Israeli intelligence uses offhandedly. It stands for "Nezek Agavi" — collateral damage — and denotes the number of civilians expected to be killed in an air strike.
THR calls the film “a sober and indispensable doc highlighting the immoral, state-of-the-art killing machine employed by the IDF in Gaza”: “It’s hard to describe all of the feelings provoked by watching a film like Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s Naza. Outrage for sure. Indignity as well. Most certainly disgust, on a profound level, for the current Israeli regime and its prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu.”
Will this be another "No Other Land," which won the best documentary Oscar despite no US distributor willing to take it on? Who steps up this time? Abraham and Szor look certain to be in contention again, and the documentary branch appears unfazed.
One more day of screenings left at Venice with Ali Asgari’s “A Bit of Light,” and Marco Bechis’ “Back to Buenos Aires” left to be seen from the competition. The Golden Lion winner will be announced on Saturday.
This, I did not expect. Sure, I figured Ben Affleck's "Animals" wasn't going to contend for Oscars in any way (it completely skipped the fall festivals), but for it to be getting such toxic reviews? That's unexpected.