VENICE, ITALY (MNN); A hard-hitting documentary examining Israel’s alleged use of artificial intelligence in military operations in Gaza received a 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, in what was believed to be a record response for the festival.
Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who won an Oscar in 2025 for No Other Land, made Naza after nearly three years of investigation. The 80-minute documentary features testimony from 24 Israeli military and intelligence whistleblowers, whose identities were concealed for security reasons.
Abraham said the filmmakers wanted to hear directly from soldiers and officers about how Israel’s systems for identifying and attacking targets in Gaza operated.
The film focuses on “Lavender,” an AI-assisted system that, according to the documentary’s interviewees, was used to identify individuals for targeted killing. Former personnel interviewed for the film described a process carried out on an industrial scale, with some comparing it to a “factory” or a remotely operated video game.
The documentary also examines allegations of extensive surveillance, the destruction of civilian homes and what interviewees described as a wider atmosphere of hostility toward Palestinians. One former operative said the remote nature of the system made the process resemble a video game, while another described the experience in disturbing terms.
The title Naza refers to a term reportedly used within Israeli intelligence to indicate the estimated number of civilians expected to be killed in an airstrike.
Film magazine Screen described the documentary as an “urgent, gut-punch” film, while The Hollywood Reporter said it provoked anger, indignation and deep disgust toward the Israeli government.
The documentary comes amid the continuing Gaza war, which followed the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel. According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, around 73,500 Palestinians have been killed and 174,500 wounded since the conflict began. The United Nations has previously regarded the ministry’s casualty figures as broadly reliable. An AFP tally based on Israeli official figures puts the October 7 death toll at 1,219.
Naza is the only documentary competing at this year’s Venice Film Festival, which concludes Saturday. Last year, The Voice of Hind Rajab, a docu-drama about the death of a five-year-old Palestinian girl, received a 23-minute standing ovation and won the festival’s second prize.
Abraham and Szor said they hoped their latest film would encourage Western governments to reconsider their support for Israel and increase pressure through sanctions. Abraham argued that continued international inaction weakens those inside Israel and Palestine who are campaigning for human rights and a political settlement.
Naza was produced by Britain’s Jim Wilson, with contributions from Jonathan Glazer, director of the Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest, and Britain’s Guardian newspaper.
The film also comes amid growing criticism of the Israeli government’s Gaza policies among prominent figures in the global entertainment industry. Foreign journalists, meanwhile, have largely been barred from independently reporting inside Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, except under tightly controlled arrangements with the Israeli military.
