EXCLUSIVE: Dogwoof has secured UK and Ireland distribution for Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s award-winning feature NAZA.
Announcement of the deal comes fresh off the back of the film securing the audience award for best European film at last weekend’s San Sebastian International Film Festival. Naza previously won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Produced by The Guardian and JW Films’ James Wilson and executive produced by Jonathan Glazer, NAZA explores Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, with the title taken from a military acronym used by Israeli intelligence to indicate how many civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike.
The documentary was shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv and features interviews with 24 anonymous members of Israeli intelligence and military.
Dogwoof will premiere NAZA in UK and Irish cinemas on Thursday, October 15, ahead of a general release the following day.
It had its US premiere at the New York Film Festival on Saturday and opens in New York’s IFC Center tomorrow (September 30) and will expand to Los Angeles and other key US cities on 9 October ahead of a national rollout.
Deals have been secured in 55 other territories, including France, Spain, Turkey, Japan, Australia, New Zaland and the Middle East.
Following its cinema release, the film will be available as a free stream on The Guardian’s website in late November.
The directors previously co-helmed 2024 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land with Palestinian film-makers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal.
Their latest film has attracted controversy and death threats in their homeland. More than 1,500 Israeli film-makers have signed a petition in solidarity with Szor and Abraham after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior military and far-right political figures accused the directors of “treason against the state”. Netanyahu has called for the directors’ citizenship to be revoked.
Local human rights organisations issued a joint statement urging Israeli authorities against prosecuting the film-makers and asking them to stop what they described as incitement and threats against them.
Global film-makers including Ken Loach, Joshua Oppenheimer. Paul Laverty, Laura Poitras, Nan Goldin, Richard Eyre and Hanif Kureishi have also leant their support.
No comments yet