NAZA premiere at NYFF draws protest outside Lincoln Center
Dozens of Israeli Americans and members of Jewish communities gathered outside Lincoln Center on Saturday, Sept. 26, as the documentary NAZA held its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival.
Inside, the screening sold out. Outside, protesters parked trucks fitted with LED screens and played footage from the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
NAZA is directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Filmed at night from rooftops in Tel Aviv, it examines the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians during Israel's military operations in Gaza. Reporting on the film has described it as purporting that the Israel Defense Forces used artificial intelligence for targeting in Gaza and treated high civilian death tolls as acceptable collateral damage.
The film arrived in New York with festival momentum. Venice added NAZA to its competition line-up in August, and it went on to win the Special Jury Prize there.
The Lincoln Center demonstration was organised by the Israeli-American Council, a US-based community group. The rally included excerpts from “October 7: Bearing Witness to the Massacre,” as reported by Cleveland Jewish News. Two survivors of the Nova music festival attack, Rom El-Hai and Shalev Biton, addressed the crowd.
The group said it was not seeking to stop the screening. Tal Shuster, co-chair of the Israeli-American Council, told the rally that protesters were not saying “don't show the film,” citing freedom of speech in the United States.
Instead, the council is asking for context around screenings. It has launched a petition calling on US cultural institutions, film festivals and cinemas showing NAZA to add panels, survivor testimony and background materials alongside the film. Noa Peri-Jensch, the council’s chief communities officer, joined the call for accompanying discussion.
The premiere also drew diplomatic criticism. The Israeli consulate protested the New York screening, as reported by Israel Hayom, the original source for this story. The US premiere audience was sold out, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
NAZA is set to begin its US theatrical release on Oct. 9, followed by a global rollout.
