Venice competition welcomes controversial Gaza documentary

A documentary examining Israel's killing of civilians in Gaza was added to the Venice Film Festival lineup on Monday, marking the second consecutive year a highly charged work about the conflict has competed for the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion.

Festival organisers said "NAZA," directed by the Israeli duo Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, will join the main programme for the September 2–12 event, the only documentary among this year's 21 contenders. 

Both filmmakers are known for their outspoken criticism of the Israeli government's policies and are closely associated with Palestinian solidarity movements, positions that have made their previous work a lightning rod for controversy both in Israel and internationally.

Last year, "The Voice of Hind Rajab," which tells the harrowing story of the final hours of a Gazan girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire, won second prize at Venice after earning a record 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere.

According to a synopsis released by the festival, "NAZA" was shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv and "reveals in detail the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza."

Palestinian health authorities say more than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign against the coastal enclave in October 2023, following Hamas's attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. 

The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count. 

Israel says its offensive was aimed at Hamas and that it tried to avoid killing civilians, but that the group hid among the civilian population.

Abraham and Szor were two of the four co-directors of "No Other Land," which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2025. T

hat film chronicled the destruction of a Palestinian community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank amid the expansion of Jewish settlements, and, like "NAZA," drew sharp criticism from Israeli officials who accused its makers of bias against the state.

"NAZA" was produced by Britain's Guardian newspaper and James Wilson, and executive produced by Jonathan Glazer, the Oscar-winning director of the 2023 Holocaust drama "The Zone of Interest." Wilson and Glazer also served as producer and executive producer, respectively, on "The Voice of Hind Rajab." Israeli authorities last week opened a criminal investigation into the girl's death.

"NAZA" will premiere in Venice on September 10, joining a high-profile field that includes new works from Martin McDonagh, Florian Zeller, Danny Boyle, Werner Herzog and Hirokazu Kore-eda.