The Guardian and mk2 Films have announced that NAZA, a new Guardian-produced documentary awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, will be released theatrically from 28 September onwards in more than 50 territories.
NAZA will be available in cinemas across the world, having secured theatrical distributors in 56 territories since its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 10 September.
Global release and free streaming
Following worldwide interest in the film, soon after NAZA's global theatrical run the Guardian will make NAZA available for global audiences, for free, via theguardian.com as part of its commitment to fearless, independent journalism.
NAZA is to receive its North American premiere on 26 September at New York Film Festival, and will open in US theaters on September 30, launching exclusively at the IFC Center in New York City. It will expand to Los Angeles and other key markets on October 9th, ahead of a national roll out in the weeks to follow.
In addition to the US distribution plan, NAZA has secured theatrical distributors in France, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, Central America, and the Middle East.
Film content and background
The film has been offered to a number of distributors and cinemas in Israel. The Guardian will also be exploring other ways to enable the film to be seen in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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. NAZA is a military acronym euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians that it expects will be killed in an airstrike.
NAZA is directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the two Israeli directors of the four co-directors of 2024 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land; produced by The Guardian and James Wilson (JW Films); and executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer.
Directors and producers speak
Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor said: “We made this film out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israelis to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible. The threats from the Israeli government to revoke our citizenship and the death threats do not change that and will not stop the film. We thank our colleagues for the solidarity and look forward to sharing NAZA all over the world very soon.”
Harry Davies, a Guardian investigations correspondent and one of NAZA's producers, said: “NAZA is grounded in rigorous journalism published over the past three years, but it is also a powerful piece of cinema that will soon be available on screens, large and small, around the world. The initial response from those who've seen it shows audiences are engaging deeply with the urgent questions the film raises. We're working with MK2 and international partners to bring the film to global audiences as soon as possible.”
