Since it premiered in Venice, where it earned a record-breaking near-25-minute stand ovation, “NAZA” has emerged one of the most talked-about documentaries of the year.
The bombshell film, from Israeli “No Other Land” directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, exposes what it asserts is Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilian targets in Gaza, using numerous sources from the Israeli Defense Force. But alongside the overwhelming acclaim for “NAZA” from the festival, praise that has only grown as it now begins it theatrical rollout worldwide, the film also provoked a near instant backlash from within Israel, particularly from members of the Israeli government.
James Wilson, who produced “Naza,” addressed the doc and the reaction to it at the BFI London Film Festival, describing it as the “hysterical, vituperative, aggressive backlash from members of the Israeli government and Israeli politicians.”
Much of the aggression has been levelled at the directors, including threats from Israel to revoke their citizenship.
“To have made a film, a documentary film and be threatened by the political elites of your home country, with charges of treason and defamation… it been very difficult and stressful and horrible and scary for them.” said Wilson, who also references the “rabble rousing” that had incited others to make threats. But the directors, “are safe and they are ok.”
Wilson also said that the backlash from within Israel was, in fact, “part of the film,” citing article in the Jewish American magazine Forward. “There’s a meta aspect to that reaction to the film that the film embodies.”
But, he noted, the “majority reaction to the film has been, from my point of view, extremely positive, and I’m personally very pleased at that. The critical reaction to the film has been extraordinarily positive.”
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