After Sparking Protests, Gaza Document 'NAZA' Without Distributor Surpasses $500,000

This highly debated feature, which won the Venice Jury Special Prize, expanded to 30 cities in its second weekend.

The weekend box office saw a strong second year frame for NAZA, the self-distributed documentary that examines Israel's military operations in Gaza.

Filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Zor, who both directed the 2024 Oscar-winning film No Other Land, have expanded the new film to 85 North American locations in 30 cities after last week's screening at the IFC Center in New York City. Naza appears to have grossed $378,250 domestically for the four-day weekend, averaging $4,450 per screen. That puts it over the $500,000 mark, as its domestic total is expected to reach $504,074 by Monday.

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NAZA premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize after receiving a record-breaking 20 minutes of applause. NAZA is being released independently in the US with support from The Guardian and MK2, and the film is set to add more theaters in the coming weeks.

100% approved by critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer called Naza "a well-informed and well-documented bombshell of revelations."

As the film unfolded over the weekend, the Israeli-American Council staged a protest Friday outside Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, where the documentary was being screened. "Our message is clear: wherever lies are told about Israel, we will emerge with the truth," IAC Chief Operations Officer Aya Schechter explained in a statement. The group also organized protesters at Naza's premiere at the New York Film Festival in September.

Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces criticized the film, calling it a "distorted, misleading and dishonest depiction of the IDF's attack planning and process."

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