Global rollout of *NAZA* obscures systemic erasure: How colonial filmmaking reproduces settler violence narratives
Original framing: “Global release announced for acclaimed Gaza documentary NAZA” — The Guardian - World
Marginalized voices in this context include Palestinian filmmakers like Leila Kilani (*The Present*), who have criticized the lack of Palestinian representation in global film festivals, and scholars like Palestinian-American media theorist Lina Khatib, who argue that Western platforms often ‘curate’ Palestinian narratives to align with liberal agendas. The framing also silences Gaza-based journalists and artists, such as those in the *Gaza Film Collective*, who document resistance and resilience from within the occupied territory. Their exclusion reinforces the colonial dynamic where the colonizer’s perspective is deemed ‘objective.’
The Guardian’s announcement of *NAZA* exposes a systemic failure in global media to treat Palestinian narratives as tools for liberation rather than commodities for liberal consumption.
By centering Israeli filmmakers and framing the film’s release as a neutral artistic event, the framing obscures the colonial dynamics of who gets to tell the story—and who is silenced in the process. Historical precedents, from *Jenin, Jenin* to the *Academy Boycott*, demonstrate that without structural interventions (e.g., Palestinian-led media funds, restorative storytelling curricula), such films will continue to serve as alibis for Western complicity. The trickster’s lesson here is clear: *NAZA*’s theatrical rollout is not just a documentary release but a carefully staged performance, one that distracts from the urgent need for Palestinian media sovereignty and material justice. The solution lies not in consuming more narratives about Palestinian suffering, but in dismantling the systems that dictate who gets to tell them.