James Costa sets For the Love of Docs slate as NAZA row grows
Independent documentary producer James Costa has selected the films for Deadline's fall For the Love of Docs virtual series, presented in partnership with National Geographic Documentary Films, Deadline reported on 6 October 2026.
The series is an online showcase. Films stream virtually for industry viewers and the public, often with recorded conversations attached, rather than playing in a cinema.
It sits alongside Deadline's Doc Talk podcast, hosted by John Ridley and Matt Carey. Carey is Deadline's senior documentary editor, and Doc Talk is a production of Deadline and Ridley's Nō Studios.
The slate discussed includes five titles. They are Seized, directed by Sharon Liese; Everybody to Kenmure Street, from director Felipe Bustos Sierra; Ask E. Jean, directed by Ivy Meeropol; The Life We Leave by J.J. Gerber; and To Hold a Mountain, directed by Biljana Tutorov and Peter Glomazić.
To Hold a Mountain arrives with festival history. It won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at Sundance, the festival's top honour for a nonfiction film made outside the United States.
The same interview turned to NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Abraham and Szor were two of the four directors of No Other Land, which won the Academy Award.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced NAZA and is pushing legislation that could potentially strip Abraham and Szor of Israeli citizenship. The International Documentary Association, the US-based organisation that supports nonfiction filmmakers, issued a rebuke over threats against the directors.
Costa knows the group well. He previously served as co-president of the International Documentary Association board.
Another press-freedom voice has weighed in. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned Israeli threats against the NAZA filmmakers and called on Israeli authorities to end threats of legal action, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on 15 September 2026.
Costa works as an independent documentary producer and filmmaker, and is a member of the AFI National Council. The selector's job is practical. He watches across festivals and distributors, then picks titles to put in front of viewers and awards voters who missed the premieres.
What makes this stand out is the second part of the role. Curation decides what gets seen. Speaking out decides what gets defended when filmmakers come under political pressure.
