Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers' documentary on Gaza war premieres at Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Twenty-four Israeli military insiders including intelligence officers and soldiers give insight into the war in Gaza and what they say is the systemic killing of Palestinian civilians in “NAZA,” a documentary that's having its world premiere Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.

The film was made by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the Israeli filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land." “NAZA” was shot in secret on rooftops in Tel Aviv across three years and its subjects’ identities are obscured, with digital alterations of their voices and appearances.

The film’s title references an Israeli military acronym used as a shorthand for civilian casualties, including men, women and children.

The subjects in the film detail the surveillance systems and remote bombing involved in the Israeli military's operation, which they say uses artificial intelligence to identify potential Hamas targets and bomb their homes and apartments often knowing that families are inside.

“We just told these officers and soldiers, please describe to us what you did,” Abraham said in a news conference Thursday. “Of course there were other questions that arose but the principal question was a question of detail — sketch it for us, we want to know how it worked. And sometimes just asking the question, you get answers.”

“NAZA” builds on reporting between 2023 and 2025 published by the Israeli-Palestinian +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and The Guardian. Szor spoke about the purpose of making a film with information that has already been reported and published.

“We felt that there is still some sort of importance to take those testimonies and put it in a film,” Szor said. “It’s different to hear, actually, the people who designed and operated those systems talk about it in front of a camera, and sketch it, show it.”

“NAZA” was produced by The Guardian and filmmakers behind “The Zone of Interest." It is the only documentary competing for the Golden Lion award, and one of two with a female director. It was a late add to the festival, which producer James Wilson said was at their request, in part to allow them to finish the anonymization of their subjects.

The film doesn’t dwell on what motivated their subjects to speak. Abraham noted that some expressed remorse, some didn’t; some deliberately spoke in Hebrew, some spoke out of indifference and pride. The filmmakers and producers were inspired by “The Zone of Interest” filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s note that in his film the victims are out of the frame, but never out of mind.

“We felt that by focusing too much on these feelings of remorse or guilt that exist, we would be taking away from the core of the film,” Abraham said. “And the core of the film is a system of killing that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza — estimates say the real number is much higher — the way it worked and the way the world allowed it to happen. This is the heart of what we want to do.”

Wilson also spoke about the antisemitism accusations that are sometimes thrown at projects critiquing the actions of the Israeli government.

“I myself actually don’t think there are any connections with Judaism or Jewishness and the policies of the Israeli government,” Wilson said.

Abraham and Szor were two of the four directors of the 2025 best documentary winner “No Other Land,” the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military. A collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, it was made between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before Hamas launched its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza.

On that day, Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 73,422 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

“The killing of civilians in Gaza is ongoing,” Abraham said. “Just this week while we were at the festival there was a seven-year-old girl killed with her father in their car … what we are showing is something that is very much ongoing.”

“I think our film is showing that this is not some mistake. It’s not an accident. It’s something very, very systemic,” he added. “And this should have been apparent to everyone, I think, from the start. But we are showing it from the inside, with insider testimony.”

The areas Israel controls in Gaza have been mostly destroyed and depopulated . Most of the territory’s 2 million Palestinians are in areas that remain under Hamas control.

Israel has continued striking Gaza, saying it’s targeting Hamas and its infrastructure. Israel blames Hamas for the heavy civilian casualties in Gaza, saying the militant group operates in residential areas and uses civilians as human shields.

The military has acknowledged using artificial intelligence to help identify targets, but maintains no strike is carried out without human involvement. “When it comes to ‘pressing the red button,’ only a person can do it,” said an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal statement from the army.

The war was top of mind at last year’s festival as well, where thousands gathered for a large pro-Palestinian protest in hopes of redirecting the spotlight from the movie stars to the real world. The subject was also prominent in the program: Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about the death of a 6-year-old girl attempting to flee Gaza City with her family, won the festival’s Silver Lion award.

Ben Hania is part of the Maggie Gyllenhaal-led jury that will be selecting the award winners at the festival. Winners will be announced on Sept. 12.

Louise Dixon contributed to this report from Venice, Italy.

For ongoing coverage of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival