1,500 film workers sign petition backing NAZA directors after Venice premiere

More than 1,500 film workers have signed a petition in support of Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor over their documentary NAZA, according to Variety.

The petition was launched on Monday. It was organised by members of the Israeli film community after the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Signatories include Israeli film-makers Ari Folman, Nadav Lapid, Orna Ben-Dor Niv, Hagai Levi and Shlomi Elkabetz, Variety reported on 15 September. The full list spans 1,500 industry names expressing solidarity with the two directors.

The text warns of what it calls an unprecedented campaign of incitement and instigation against the film's creators. It says the distance between that campaign and incitement to violence and physical threat to the creators' lives is shrinking.

NAZA premiered in Competition at Venice, the festival's main line-up competing for its top awards. It received a 24.5-minute ovation at its premiere and later won the special jury prize.

The film is an 80-minute production in Hebrew and English, listed by the festival as a United Kingdom production. Its official synopsis says it shows in detail the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The documentary was shot in secrecy at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv. It features interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers, and alleges the use of artificial intelligence to identify potential Hamas targets and bomb their homes in Gaza knowing entire families were inside.

The response was swift. Israel's culture minister Miki Zohar threatened to revoke the citizenships of Abraham and Szor, who are both Israeli, and called the film "vile", according to Al Jazeera. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly instructed the military's top legal official to examine legal action against NAZA on the grounds it defamed the military.

Abraham and Szor, who are Oscar-winning directors, said in an interview at Venice that they intended to return to Israel despite difficulties they may face. The film was executive produced by Jonathan Glazer, according to Screen Daily.

What makes this stand out is the speed of the fallout. A secret shoot, a festival prize, and a petition followed within days by threats of legal and official action.