“NAZA,” the hot-button documentary about killings in Gaza that won a special jury prize at the recent Venice Film Festival, had tallied more than 1.5 million theatrical admissions across 47 territories as of Nov. 6. That ranks it among the year’s most-watched documentaries on the big screen.
The film comes from Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, co-directors of Oscar winner “No Other Land.” It has grossed $13.5 million outside the U.S., with a further $1 million in the U.S.
Italy is the standout. I Wonder opened the doc there on Sept. 29, soon after it debuted in Venice, and it has since drawn 717,517 admissions, nearly half the worldwide total. It is still on 379 screens. “NAZA” has topped the Italian box office and now sits third among documentaries in the country’s cinema history, trailing only “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “March of the Penguins.”
In the U.S., “NAZA” opened on Sept. 30, self-distributed via Michael Tuckman’s company mTuckman Media. Neon came on board as U.S. distributor in late October, with plans to take the film wider off the back of that first run. Admissions across the U.S. and Canada stand at 83,673.
Dogwoof opened the film in the U.K. and Ireland on Oct. 15 with an event screening at the Ritz. Abraham and Szor took part in a Q&A alongside producer Jim Wilson and executive producer Jonathan Glazer, and it was beamed live to 104 more cinemas. That night alone sold more than 7,000 tickets. The film went on to play the full Picturehouse circuit, sites from the Odeon, Cineworld and Vue chains, and a handful of independents. Its U.K. and Ireland total now stands at 102,509 admissions.
France took a different route. Local rules on the window before a film can stream online meant “NAZA” played there as a 48-hour event release. Close to 500 screenings in more than 260 theaters drew over 82,000 admissions, and the doc topped the box office on each of the two days.
Distributor ImmerGuteFilme reported 83,355 admissions in Germany, with the film’s best day so far falling on Sunday, Nov. 1. In Austria, where Polyfilm opened it on Oct. 1, admissions have passed 16,521. In both markets, “NAZA” is running ahead of where “No Other Land” and Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” an Oscar nominee, stood at the same point.
Elastica bowed the film in Spain on Oct. 9 on 105 screens, and it reached 61,783 admissions by Nov. 6. Cherry Pickers has counted 132,323 admissions in Benelux, and Switzerland has passed 50,000. The doc has also found audiences in Australia and New Zealand, Scandinavia, Poland, Romania, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand.
The ticket sales have come alongside a busy awards run. Since Venice, the doc has scooped the audience award at San Sebastián and, this week, the critics prize at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. On Nov. 8, the New York Critics Circle named it best political documentary, having also nominated it for documentary feature and for its directors. “NAZA” is up for best documentary feature at the Gotham Awards and has been shortlisted by DOC NYC and, in the European documentary category, by the European Film Awards.
With Neon now handling the U.S. release, 379 Italian cinemas are still playing the film in its biggest market.
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