Film festivals are frequently defined by moments of cinematic triumph, but very occasionally, a project arrives that transcends standard critical acclaim to become an undeniable historical and cultural event. When a piece of cinema steps beyond the bounds of traditional storytelling to confront a raw, unvarnished global reality, it ceases to be mere entertainment - it transforms into an urgent, unavoidable testament of our time.

The Gaza documentary NAZA has become such a piece of cinema that has been recently hailed at Venice Film Festival with a 24.5 minute standing ovation for its unadulterated truth. 

At its Venice Film Festival premiere on Thursday, the new documentary NAZA, directed by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor of No Other Land, received an overwhelming 24.5-minute ovation. This is the longest standing ovation in Venice history, surpassing the 22 minutes for The Voice of Hind Rajab last year. It also appears to be the longest at a major film festival overall.

Throughout the thunderous cheers, Oscar-winning Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer, who is also an executive producer on the movie, hugged Abraham and Szor and cheered them along with the crowd. Both the directors and the audience, some of whom were waving Palestinian flags, appeared solemn and shedding a tear or two every now and then, overcome by such a heartfelt response.

The documentary was added to Venice's competition one month after the July announcement of the original lineup. At a press conference earlier on Thursday, the filmmakers clarified that the reason for the last-minute addition was that they were wrapping up the three-year-long project.

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The doc is actually an account of a very depressing truth that shows how far human can go to kill each other.

According to its official synopsis, NAZA provides a detailed account of the mechanisms underlying Israel's deliberate mass murder of Palestinian people in Gaza. Revealing interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence personnel and soldiers are featured in the controversial documentary, which was secretly filmed at night on Tel Aviv's roofs. Throughout the documentary, Israeli intelligence uses the abbreviation NAZA, which stands for collateral damage, to express how many civilians it anticipates would be killed in an airstrike.

Produced by James Wilson (JW Films) and the British newspaper The Guardian, the film is the only documentary in this year's Venice competition roster. Interestingly, the director duo Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor were among the four directors who helmed No Other Land, which won the 2025 Best Documentary Oscar and shows the Israeli government's attempts to drive Palestinians from their homes in the southern West Bank.

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Would you watch the critically acclaimed documentary? Do let us know.