ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Naza, a film by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, features interviews with 24 members of elite intelligence units in the Israeli military describing the mechanics of carrying out remote, indiscriminate mass killing in Gaza. Since news spread of a 25-minute standing ovation for the film at the Venice Film Festival, it has provoked intense debate, with some Palestinians expressing criticism of the way that Israelis’ confessions have made the genocide more “real” in the West than Palestinians’ own testimony. Meanwhile, in Israel, the film has elicited disturbing incitement against the filmmakers (who currently remain abroad), and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to revoke the filmmakers’ citizenship.
What is the unique function of cinema focused on the perpetrators of genocide? How do we understand the concept of “evil” in listening to the voices of the murderers? And can these testimonies provoke a reckoning within global Jewry? To discuss these questions, Arielle Angel speaks with two filmmakers: Rami Younis, Palestinian journalist and co-director of the film Lyd, about the city in historic Palestine, now in the south of Israel; and Joshua Oppenheimer, director of the Oscar-nominated films The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, about the Indonesian genocide.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Links and Further Reading
Naza, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and Anonymous
Lyd, directed by Rami Younis and Sarah Ema Friedland
“Gaza before and after: New Google Maps imagery shows destruction of the Strip,” José A. Álvarez and Anna Navarro, El País
“‘NAZA’ is forcing Israelis to reflect. But we Palestinians are not your mirror,” Ayat Abou Shmeiss, +972 Magazine
“The moment a human life becomes ‘collateral damage,’” Mahmoud Mushtaha, +972 Magazine
“Palestinian Suffering Must Pass Through an Israeli Voice to Be Heard,” Hanin Majadli, Haaretz
Rami Younis’s interview with Hany Abu Assad at Palestine Cinema
“Watching 'NAZA' Shocked Me. So Did What Its Creators Left Out,” Raviv Drucker, Haaretz
Raviv Drucker interviewing Yuval Abraham
“'It hurts me' - Guardiola vows to speak up on conflicts,” Shamoon Hafez, BBC
“‘Violent and baseless raid’: Human rights group demands probe of police over Umm el-Fahm wedding,” Yoav Etiel, The Jerusalem Post
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Transcript forthcoming.
