Gaza Documentary 'Naza' Wins Special Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival

Naza, a documentary examining Israel’s military operations in Gaza, has won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, with juror Kaouther Ben Hania highlighting its documentation of events still unfolding.

Speaking at the post-awards press conference on Saturday, the Tunisian filmmaker explained the jury’s recognition of Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s film. "Those two brilliant directors found a way with the constraints of filming testimonies anonymously," she said.

"And it's not about their feelings. They are cogs in a bigger machine. I found this just brilliant, necessary, and very important in a time when we are talking a lot about denial," Ben Hania continued.

"And also the fact that they are filming fresh history. The genocide is still ongoing. This is brave. And they did it in a very strong, cinematic way. That's why I think it's important to recognize the courage, the vision, and also the importance of this movie.">

President of the festival Pierangelo Buttafuoco and jury members Maggie Gyllenhaal, Francesco Casetti, Daniel Blumberg, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Xavier Giannoli, and Kaouther Ben Hania sat on stage at the Venice closing ceremony.

Ben Hania served on the jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal a year after her Gaza-set film, The Voice of Hind Rajab, won Venice’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Her drama reconstructs the efforts to rescue a Palestinian girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire, using recordings of her calls to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Naza received its award at the ceremony where Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown won the Golden Lion. Its recognition followed an ovation lasting about 24 and a half minutes at Thursday’s premiere, when audience members held up Palestinian flags.

The 80-minute documentary, produced by The Guardian and James Wilson, with Jonathan Glazer serving as an executive producer, draws on an investigation spanning almost three years and interviews with 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers. Participants were filmed at night on Tel Aviv rooftops, with their faces and voices digitally altered to protect their identities.

Ahead of the premiere, Abraham told AFP: “We are letting the soldiers and the officers speak about what did they do.”

The film examines the use of artificial intelligence in selecting targets, with interviewees describing operations carried out despite knowledge that civilians were present. Its title comes from an Israeli military term referring to the number of civilians expected to be killed in an air strike.

Abraham and Szor previously co-directed No Other Land with Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal. That documentary, about the displacement of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, won the Oscar for best documentary feature in 2025.