Israeli film about killing of Gazan civilians gets 25-minute record ovation at Venice premiere

 NAZA, a new documentary from Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor about the killing of civilians in Gaza, received a record 25-minute ovation at its premiere at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Thursday,  an AFP reporter witnessed.

As Abraham and Szor headed up the red carpet in a rain-soaked Venice, there were shouts of “Free Palestine” and “Free Israel” from onlookers.

The film is named after the Hebrew acronym for “collateral damage.” It features interviews with 24 IDF soldiers, mostly intelligence officers, about what the filmmakers describe as the “premeditated, calculated and intentional” mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war.

It is based on reporting that appeared in the Israeli left-wing activist outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call, and the UK’s Guardian, at least some of which has been challenged by the Israel Defense Forces.

Israel says that it tried to avoid killing civilians during its operations in Gaza, which targeted Hamas after the terror group that rules the Strip led a devastating assault on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 abducted to Gaza. Israel accuses Hamas of embedding its operatives and military infrastructure among the civilian population, including in hospitals, schools, refugee camps and mosques.

Israel also rejects all accusations of genocide in Gaza.

The film’s executive producer is British Jewish director Jonathan Glazer, who sparked controversy in March 2024 with an Oscar acceptance speech denouncing the war in Gaza when winning Best International Feature Film for his Holocaust-themed picture “Zone of Interest.”

He could be seen in footage from Venice clapping next to a stern-looking Abraham and Szor, two of the four directors who won Best Documentary at the 2025 Oscars for the Israeli-Palestinian film “No Other Land,” about the dispossession of Palestinians in the southern West Bank’s Masafer Yatta.

The applause for NAZA surpassed what was thought to be the festival’s previous record, when viewers last year clapped for 23 minutes for docu-drama “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about the killing of a 6-year-old girl, her family and medics who came to save them in Gaza City in January 2024.

Ovations can be easily manipulated and are seen as an imperfect measure of a film, but they do give an indication of the impact on festivalgoers and critics.

The evident enthusiasm for “The Voice of Hind Rajab” last year made it a favorite for Venice’s Best Film award, but it went on to win the second prize, with reports of a split in the jury.

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