Venice Adds 'Naza': Documentary From 'No Other Land' Directors Joins Golden Lion Race
The Venice Film Festival has made a last-minute addition to its competition lineup: Naza, a documentary directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four co-directors behind the Oscar-winning No Other Land. The film is the only documentary in this year's Venezia 83 Competition section, the festival's main slate vying for the Golden Lion (Variety).
Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, Naza examines, in its official synopsis, "the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza" (Variety). The project is produced by The Guardian and James Wilson of JW Films, with Jonathan Glazer serving as executive producer. Wilson and Glazer previously collaborated on 2023's The Zone of Interest, which won the Academy Award for best international feature.
Abraham and Szor first drew international attention with No Other Land, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and chronicled the destruction and displacement of Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian community in the West Bank. That film went on to win the Oscar for best documentary feature. Naza marks their first time competing for Venice's Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, awarded at the closing ceremony on 12 September (Variety).
The documentary will screen on 10 September at 5:15 p.m. in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema, with the directors, producers, Guardian journalists and the official delegation in attendance (Variety).
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival, organised by La Biennale di Venezia and held on the Lido di Venezia, runs 2–12 September 2026 (La Biennale). Online reservations for screenings open Thursday 27 August (La Biennale).
The competition lineup — the section from which the Golden Lion jury selects its winner — also includes Lance Oppenheim's Primetime, Danny Boyle's Ink, Casey Affleck's Company, Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Look Back, Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, and Florian Zeller's Bunker. Naza is the sole documentary among them.
What gives this addition its weight is the chain of names behind it. Abraham and Szor arrive with the credibility of an Oscar-winning predecessor. Glazer, one of the most closely watched directors working today, lends his name as executive producer. The Guardian, a major news organisation, steps in as a producing partner. Together they bring a film about an ongoing conflict onto one of the most prominent platforms in world cinema — the Sala Grande, the main hall of the Venice Lido, where the festival's competition films receive their premieres.
The festival's full official selection spans seven sections: Venezia 83 Competition, Venice Open – Out of Competition, Orizzonti, Venice Spotlight, Venice Classics, Venice Immersive, and Biennale College Cinema (La Biennale).
