The Guardian and mk2 films have announced global release plans for Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s bombshell documentary NAZA.
The partners said that The Guardian-produced documentary will be released theatrically from September 28 onwards in more than 50 territories, having secured theatrical distributors in 56 territories since its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 10 September.
In an unprecedented move, The Guardian will make NAZA available for global audiences for free on its website, after the theatrical run later this fall. The partners said this move was due to the “worldwide interest” in the documentary as well as The Guardian’s “commitment to fearless, independent journalism”.
The investigative documentary, exposing the calculated targeting of civilians in Gaza in missile strikes by Israeli military through the testimony of intelligence personnel and soldiers involved in the killing, has caused a sensation since its Venice debut.
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It landed a record 25-minute ovation its Venice premiere Film, but has since been attacked by Israeli politicians including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has threatened to strip the directors of their Israeli citizenship even though he has no power to do this under the country’s laws.
The Guardian and mk2 said the film has been offered to a number of distributors and cinemas in Israel, and they will be exploring other ways to enable the film to be seen in the occupied Palestinian territories.
They added that, as previously announced, the film will receive its North American premiere on 26 September at New York Film Festival, and will open in U.S. theaters on September 30, launching exclusively at the IFC Center in New York City.
It will expand to Los Angeles and other key markets on October 9, ahead of a national roll out in the weeks to follow.
NAZA is produced by The Guardian and James Wilson (JW Films); and executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer.
The documentary builds on a series of revelations first published by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, a Israeli-Palestinian publication, and Hebrew-language outlet, Local Call between 2023-2025, including groundbreaking investigations into how Israel uses AI to identify targets in Gaza.
It follows Abraham and Szor’s No Other Land, winner of the Best Documentary Academy Award in 2025. Co-directed with Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, it documented Israeli army-backed efforts to erase the West Bank Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta, while painting a wider picture of Israeli occupation.
“We made this film out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israelis to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible,” said Abraham and Szor in a joint statement as the NAZA release plans were unveiled.
“The threats from the Israeli government to revoke our citizenship and the death threats do not change that and will not stop the film. We thank our colleagues for the solidarity and look forward to sharing NAZA all over the world very soon.”
Harry Davies, a Guardian investigations correspondent and one of NAZA’s producers, added: “NAZA is grounded in rigorous journalism published over the past three years, but it is also a powerful piece of cinema that will soon be available on screens, large and small, around the world.”
“The initial response from those who’ve seen it shows audiences are engaging deeply with the urgent questions the film raises. We’re working with MK2 and international partners to bring the film to global audiences as soon as possible.”
The 56 territories sold by Paris-based mk2 film, which boarded international sales on the documentary ahead of its Venice premiere, include France, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Portugal, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, Central America, and the Middle East.
