Neon has joined The Guardian, MK2, James Wilson and Jonathan Glazer on “NAZA” from Academy Award-winning Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the company announced Wednesday.
The distributor will work with the filmmakers to expand its footprint and to reach larger audiences and communities.
The documentary received its world premiere in competition at the Venice International Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize and received a record-breaking 25-minute standing ovation.
The film later screened at the San Sebastián International Film Festival (winning the audience award) before making its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival. Neon has been in talks with the “NAZA” team since the New York debut on Sept. 26, according to an insider with knowledge.
This week, it won the Critics Prize at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. The film is nominated for three Critics Choice Documentary Awards including Best Documentary, Best Director(s) and Best Political Documentary. It is also included on DOC NYC’s Short List.
“Yuval and Rachel have created one of the best films of the year; it’s an extraordinary work of art and eyewitness testimony that stands alongside landmark documentaries like Laura Poitras’ ‘Citizenfour’ and Joshua Oppenheimer’s ‘The Act of Killing,’” a Neon spokesperson said in a statement. “At the heart of Neon’s mission is a commitment to championing the best cinema from around the world. We’re proud to join the incredible team already working on the film and help bring it to the widest audience possible.”
“NAZA” was released independently in the U.S. on Sept. 30 in 85 theaters across 30 cities, grossing $298,240 for a per theater average of $3,508. The film’s cume now stands at $504,074. Overseas, the film has secured theatrical distribution in over 50 countries.
In “NAZA,” which was the only documentary in the Venice competition, secret conversations on the rooftops of Tel Aviv at night reveal the alleged systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by the people who designed and operated them.
The documentary is produced by The Guardian with producer Wilson’s JW Films in association with Placeholder Films and Unseen Hand. Glazer (“The Zone of Interest,” “Under the Skin”) executive produced. The Neon deal was negotiated by MK2 Films, who boarded the film for sales prior to the Venice Film Festival.
Abraham is an Israeli filmmaker and investigative journalist and Szor is an Israeli filmmaker and cinematographer. They are two of the four co-directors of Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.”
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