NAZA premieres at NYFF amid protests, controversies

Israeli documentary NAZA premiered in the US at the 64th New York Film Festival in New York on September 26, with directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor using the screening to call for greater scrutiny of US support for Israel.

The Guardian-produced documentary was screened at Alice Tully Hall, where Abraham and Szor appeared onstage following the premiere with NYFF programming chief Dennis Lim. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release across the US  beginning October 9.

Abraham said the decision to bring the film to New York and release it theatrically was intended to influence the political debate surrounding US support for Israel.

“For us, [it’s] the main motivation,” Abraham said from the Alice Tully Hall stage. Referring to the film’s closing text, he added that the crimes depicted were continuing “not just because our country is doing it but because your country is supporting and funding it”.

The documentary centres on anonymised Hebrew-language interviews with two dozen Israeli Defence Forces veterans of the Gaza war. It examines the methods used by the Israeli military during the conflict, including the use of artificial intelligence in surveillance and the selection of targets.

The film also intersperses the rooftop interviews with drone footage of Israelis watching television in high-rise apartments in Tel Aviv, creating a contrast between the accounts of the soldiers and everyday life below.

Abraham, who co-directed the 2025 West Bank documentary No Other Land, based NAZA on his reporting for The Guardian, Local Call and +972. In the film, he appears on the rooftops of Tel Aviv interviewing former soldiers and challenging them about their experiences.

Szor said the film was also intended to address Israeli audiences, particularly those on the political left.

“When you walk in Tel Aviv you feel all these crimes are happening and no one is speaking about it,” she said. “And Tel Aviv is a liberal place; a lot of people consider themselves leftist. But they don’t talk about it or they try to justify it.”

The film has drawn criticism from different sides of the political debate. A review in Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz questioned aspects of its context and treatment of the realities of guerrilla warfare, while Israel’s culture minister Miki Zohar has criticised Abraham and Szor.

At the New York premiere, a small pro-Israel protest took place outside the theatre, with protesters screening footage of the October 7 attacks. Abraham addressed the demonstrations from the stage, saying the attacks were “completely unjustified” but arguing that they did not justify the actions depicted in the documentary.

“I don’t want to live in a world where rightful empathy of Israeli victims is weaponized to mean a lack of empathy to Palestinians,” Abraham said, adding that he did not want the conflict reduced to a “zero-sum game”.

The filmmakers have also faced criticism from parts of the political left, including over Abraham’s focus on Israeli perspectives in his work.

Abraham said at the screening that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had compared the film to a barrage of ballistic missiles, adding that he and Szor were taking potential threats seriously.

The film’s US premiere comes as NAZA continues its international release following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a special jury prize.

Speaking at the end of the NYFF event, Lim said the screening was important in light of US aid to Israel and Israeli military actions in Iran.

“The [U.S. military support] is one of the reasons we thought it was so important to see,” Abraham replied.