The Japan Times - Israeli-made film about Gaza civilian deaths to debut in Venice

"NAZA" by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor promises fresh revelations about the bombing of Gaza based on testimony from Israeli forces.

"Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, the film reveals in detail the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza," the pair said when they announced the film in August.

It has been produced by British duo Jim Wilson and Jonathan Glazer -- the team behind Auschwitz-set Oscar winner "The Zone of Interest" -- as well as Britain's Guardian newspaper.

The title is taken from an Israeli military acronym used euphemistically by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians that are expected to be killed in an airstrike, according to The Guardian.

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has left around 73,500 Palestinians dead and 174,500 injured since October 2023, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Along with Palestinians Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, Abraham and Szor shot to fame with their film "No Other Land" about Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, which won the Oscar for best documentary in 2025.

"NAZA" was a late addition to the top competition this year in Venice, where organisers have selected several films about the Gaza conflict as part of the programme.

"Citizen Osama" about a Gaza photojournalist struggling to find water and food and do his job premiered last week and has since been chosen as the Palestinian entry to compete for best foreign film in the 2027 Academy Awards.

Last year, "The Voice of Hind Rajab", a gut-wrenching docu-drama about the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza by Israeli forces, picked up second prize at the festival.

- Public opinion -

The films, as well as increasing condemnation of Israel's conduct in Gaza from top entertainment figures, are part of a broad shift in public opinion in Western countries against the war and Israeli policies.

US actress Susan Sarandon, one of the most persistent critics of the war, claimed this week that the narrative around Gaza and the United States' financial and military support for Israel had "completely changed".

"There's a lot of things that people are aware of now," the "Thelma & Louise" star told a news conference.

Sarandon said she was finding it impossible to find work in Hollywood, having been dropped by her agency in 2023 following controversial remarks at a pro-Palestinian rally for which she later apologised.

Israel has consistently denied deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza, blaming militant group Hamas for hiding among the population of the densely packed and besieged enclave where around two million people lived before the war.

Foreign journalists have been prevented from entering and reporting from Gaza since the start of the conflict, other than under tightly controlled conditions with the Israeli military.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, constituting "the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists that CPJ has ever documented".

K.Yamaguchi--JT