The controversial documentary "Barren" crossed the $500,000 mark without a distributor
The documentary Naza, which examines Israel's military operations in Gaza and won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, reached 30 cities in North America in its second weekend of release and exceeded $500,000 in domestic sales without a distributor.
The documentary Naza, which examines Israel's military operations in Gaza and won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, reached 30 cities in North America in its second weekend of release and exceeded $500,000 in domestic sales without a distributor.
Safir Arjan: Last weekend at the box office, the documentary "Naza" recorded a strong performance in its second week of screening. Independently distributed by its creators, the film examines Israel's military operations in Gaza. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Zor, the filmmakers who both directed the 2024 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, direct the new work.
"Naza" began its run last week at the IFC Center in New York, and in its second weekend of release, the scope of its screening expanded to 85 theaters in 30 North American cities. It is expected that this documentary will sell 378,250 dollars at the domestic box office in the United States during the four-day weekend; A figure that brings its average sales to $4,450 per salon. Including this income, the domestic sales of the film will reach about 504 thousand 74 dollars by Monday.
"Naza" was first screened at this year's Venice Film Festival and after an unprecedented standing ovation that lasted for more than 20 minutes, it received the Special Jury Prize. This film will be released in America independently with the support of Guardian newspaper and MK2 company, and it is going to be shown in more theaters in the coming weeks.
Naza has earned a 100% approval rating from critics on the Rotten Tomatoes website. The Hollywood Reporter's critic Jordan Mintzer described the film as a "shocking, documentary-based exposé."
Along with the release of the film over the weekend, the Israeli-American Council held a protest rally on Friday in front of the Lamel Noho 7 movie theater in North Hollywood, where the documentary was shown. This group had previously held a protest rally during the opening screening of "Barren" at the New York Film Festival in September.
Earlier this month, the Israeli army also criticized this documentary and called it a "distorted, misleading and dishonest picture of the Israeli army's target planning and attack execution process."
The film is based on interviews with 24 Israeli military and intelligence personnel whose identities have been withheld for their security. They talk about how to identify targets, decide on attacks, and their role in the process. The interviews were recorded mostly at night and on the rooftops of Tel Aviv. One of the central themes of the film is the military term "barren", which refers to an estimate of expected civilian casualties in an attack. According to the documentary, in some cases the decision-makers knew before the attack that civilians, including children, were present in the target buildings; However, the attacks were confirmed.