Venice Winner NAZA Faces 49-Minute Rebuttal Film Online
A 49-minute answer to the Venice prize-winning documentary NAZA surfaced online during the weekend of Oct 3-4.
The rebuttal, titled NAZA: The Real Story, was shot in a style mimicking the original and disputes its account of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to a Variety report published on Oct 5 Variety.
The original NAZA is an 80-minute documentary filmed at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv. It centres on interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers about the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The title refers to an acronym used in Israeli intelligence for collateral damage, meaning the expected civilian deaths from an airstrike.
It was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. The pair are Israeli directors and journalists, and two of the four co-directors of No Other Land, which won the documentary Oscar in 2025. The film was produced by The Guardian with James Wilson of JW Films.
NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The prize was presented at the closing ceremony on the Venice Lido on Sept 12, where the festival's official listing identified the film as a British production Guardian. It received a 24.5-minute ovation in Venice and then had its North American bow at the New York Film Festival.
Its release follows a short theatrical window. It is playing in cinemas in Europe and the United States before streaming free on The Guardian's website in late November.
The rebuttal runs 49 minutes. It was made by Lt. Col. Roi Danino, Ariel Averbuch and content editor Hagai Gutman. Danino is standing as a candidate for the right-wing Israel First party, led by Sharren Haskel, in Israel's election on Oct 27. Averbuch is a reserve major in the Israel Defense Forces, a patent attorney and an ultra-nationalist influencer.
The full rebuttal was posted to YouTube on the @NazaTheRealStory channel YouTube and offered free at nazadocumentary.com. The Israeli Embassy to the US reposted it on X with the words "a new Israeli documentary is setting the record straight." At the time of the Variety report, the rebuttal's website claimed more than 20 million viewers for its opening weekend online.
Israel's military and political leaders have responded publicly. The Israel Defense Forces described the original NAZA as "manipulative," "misleading" and "based on substantial factual errors." After the Venice premiere, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for revoking the citizenship of "anyone who slanders IDF soldiers," according to a separate Variety report from Sept 16 Variety.
For audiences, this means two films will circulate in very different ways. One is moving through festivals and cinemas before a free newspaper streaming release. The other has gone straight online, free and without a festival launch.
