IDF Reservists Release 49-Minute Rebuttal to Venice Winner 'NAZA'

A 49-minute rebuttal film made by Israeli reservists is answering back to one of the autumn's most talked-about documentaries.

NAZA: The Real Story was directed by Israeli director and IDF reserve officer Roi Danino, with co-creators Ariel Averbuch, also a reserve officer, and Israeli content creator Hagay Gutman, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film runs 49 minutes and is presented as a direct response to NAZA, the documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

The counter-film deliberately copies the look of the original. It was shot at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv and released with English subtitles, Variety reported. It features first-hand testimony from IDF soldiers about the Gaza war against Hamas and can be watched at nazadocumentary.com/film.

The original NAZA is a Guardian-produced film from Abraham and Szor, two of the four co-directors of the 2025 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. Its title is an acronym from a Hebrew expression meaning collateral damage. It is built around anonymised Hebrew-language interviews with two dozen IDF veterans.

That film has had a fast festival run. It was added late to the programme of the 83rd Venice Film Festival and then took a Special Jury prize after its premiere, according to The Guardian. It made its United States debut at the New York Film Festival inside Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. It is now in cinemas in Europe and the U.S., with The Guardian planning to stream it free on its website in late November.

The Israel Defense Forces issued an official response to NAZA on Oct. 1. In that statement, described by Variety, the military called the documentary manipulative, misleading and based on substantial factual errors.

What makes this stand out is how closely the two films mirror each other. One uses concealed identities and night-time testimony to question conduct in Gaza. The other uses the same devices to defend it.