The film NAZA, which documents the Israeli military’s use of secret AI-powered systems to deliberately and systematically target and massacre civilians in Gaza, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday. The film was directed by Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and filmmaker Rachel Szor, both of whom won an Oscar for the documentary No Other Land in 2025 along with Palestinian co-directors Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal. NAZA was shot in secret on rooftops in Tel Aviv over three years and builds on testimony from Israeli military and intelligence sources who spoke on the condition their identities be concealed. The film’s title refers to an acronym used by the Israeli military as a shorthand for civilian killings in Gaza.
The film’s reception in Venice, where it received a record-breaking 25-minute standing ovation, was met with angry backlash from Israel’s government as Culture Minister Miki Zohar threatened to revoke Abraham and Szor’s Israeli citizenship.
