Woman Unknown wins Venice film festival as NAZA takes special jury prize
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown has won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival, making her the eighth female director to take the top prize, while the special jury prize went to NAZA, a Guardian-produced documentary examining Israel's AI-assisted killing of civilians in Gaza. The ceremony also honoured Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love with the runner-up grand jury prize, Ilya Khrzhanovsky's DAU with the Silver Lion for best director, and John Malkovich with the best actor Volpi Cup for his role in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse, rounding out a lineup that mixed acclaimed newcomers with politically contentious entries.
Woman Unknown, set just after Danish liberation from Nazi occupation, follows a housemaid hiding a wartime relationship with a German soldier; its star Mathilde Arcel also won the best actress Volpi Cup, an unusual double that jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal said reflected a unanimous vote. NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and based on testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military insiders, takes its title from a military acronym predicting expected civilian deaths in Gaza airstrikes; the Israeli military "categorically denied" its allegations after the premiere. DAU's inclusion drew criticism from Ukraine over lead actor Teodor Currentzis's refusal to condemn the invasion and past funding from a since-sanctioned Russian businessman, though Khrzhanovsky said he wished only for Ukraine's success and peace.
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In short
- Woman Unknown wins Golden Lion; director El-Toukhy is festival's eighth female winner
- Gaza documentary NAZA takes special jury prize amid Israeli military denial
- DAU's Silver Lion win stirred controversy over its Russia-linked star and funding
How this story developed
- 2 months ago May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown has won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival, making her the eighth female director to take the top prize, while the special jury prize went to NAZA, a Guardian-produced documentary examining Israel's AI-assisted killing of civilians in Gaza.
- 2 months ago May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown has won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival, making her the eighth female director to take the top prize, while the special jury prize went to NAZA, a Guardian-produced documentary examining Israel's AI-assisted killing of civilians in Gaza.
- 2 months ago The Egyptian-Danish director May el-Toukhy's film Woman Unknown has won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival, making her the eighth female director to take the top prize, while the special jury prize went to NAZA, a Guardian-produced documentary examining Israel's AI-assisted killing of civilians in Gaza.
Full account
May el-Toukhy's Danish drama Woman Unknown has taken the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, making the Egyptian-Danish film-maker the eighth woman to win the award. The film, set just after Denmark's liberation from Nazi occupation, follows a housemaid preparing to marry her widowed employer while concealing a wartime affair with a German soldier. At the same ceremony, the jury awarded its special prize to NAZA, a documentary examining Israel's use of artificial intelligence in targeting decisions during its campaign in Gaza.
Woman Unknown's lead, Mathilde Arcel, also picked up the festival's best actress award, the Volpi Cup, an unusual double for a single film that reportedly puzzled some observers given Venice's convention of spreading prizes across different titles. Jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal explained afterwards that the panel's decision on Arcel had been unanimous, prompting them to make an exception. Accepting her award, el-Toukhy spoke of the financial and emotional difficulty of making the film and thanked Gyllenhaal for highlighting the shortage of women directors in competition this year, noting that hers was the only film in the main line-up made solely by a female director.
Elsewhere in the prize list, South Korean director Lee Chang-dong took the runner-up grand jury prize for Possible Love, a drama centred on a troubled marriage drawn into a friendship with a documentary-maker and her wealthy husband, which had been well received by critics. The Silver Lion for best director went to Russian film-maker Ilya Khrzhanovsky, recognised for the distinctive visual style of his entry.
NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor — two of the team behind the Oscar-winning No Other Land — was a late addition to the competition and drew on testimony from two dozen serving and former Israeli military and intelligence personnel, filmed anonymously at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv with their voices disguised. The film's title refers to a Hebrew military term used to describe an accepted level of civilian casualties in a strike, and interviewees describe a programme in which residential buildings were targeted, sometimes at night when families were more likely to be present, aided by phone-tracking and AI-assisted target selection. Accepting the prize, Abraham said it was difficult to receive the award knowing that Israeli politicians and commentators were denouncing the film without having seen it, adding that considerable effort was being made to avoid confronting what it depicts. Israel's military has categorically rejected the claims made in the documentary.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
The Guardian-style report frames the story primarily as an awards-night wrap-up, giving roughly equal weight to Woman Unknown, Possible Love, the Silver Lion and NAZA, and notes its own outlet's role in producing NAZA.
The second, more trade-press-style account focuses almost entirely on NAZA itself rather than the ceremony, going into far greater depth on the film's specific claims — the scale of accepted civilian casualties (ranging from under a dozen to as many as 200–500 per strike), soldiers' attitudes towards Palestinian civilians, and the surveillance/AI methods described — and traces the material's origins to earlier reporting on the 'Lavender' programme by +972 Magazine, Local Call and the Guardian.
Only the first source covers Woman Unknown's plot, Arcel's Volpi Cup win and Gyllenhaal's remarks in any detail; the second source does not mention Woman Unknown, Possible Love or the Silver Lion at all.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of honouring NAZA argue that documentary film has always existed to surface uncomfortable truths that official channels suppress, and that testimony from 24 military insiders, however anonymous, constitutes exactly the kind of first-hand witness that deserves a serious hearing. They would say a festival jury's role is to judge craft and moral urgency, not to adjudicate contested facts, and that recognising the film signals solidarity with whistleblowers and civilians caught in the conflict rather than a verdict on Israel's conduct. For these advocates, withholding the prize for fear of controversy would itself be a political act, chilling legitimate journalism precisely when it is most needed.
The case against
Sceptics of the award argue that a prestigious cultural platform lends unearned authority to allegations that rest solely on anonymous sources and that the accused party has categorically denied, effectively pre-judging a matter that ought to be tested through independent verification rather than festival acclaim. They would contend that juries risk their institutions' credibility and fairness when they honour work centred on one of the world's most polarising conflicts, potentially alienating audiences who see the choice as activism dressed as artistic judgement. For these critics, respecting the seriousness of the underlying claims means insisting on rigorous scrutiny before celebration, not after.
Explained simply
Woman Unknown, directed by Danish film-maker May el-Toukhy, has won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice film festival, one of the most prestigious annual gatherings in world cinema. The festival's jury, made up of film industry figures and led this year by actor and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, awards prizes each September to films it judges outstanding, and the results are closely watched across the industry.
Alongside the main prize, the festival's special jury award went to NAZA, a documentary produced by the Guardian that examines the Israeli military's use of artificial intelligence in identifying targets for airstrikes in Gaza, drawing on accounts from Israeli military sources. The film's subject matter touches on one of the most contested aspects of the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, and the Israeli military has disputed its claims.
The wider prize list also reflected a mix of acclaimed and contentious work, including a film by Ukrainian-born director Ilya Khrzhanovsky that has faced criticism over its ties to Russia amid the war in Ukraine. Venice is one of the "big three" European film festivals, alongside Cannes and Berlin, and its awards often shape which films go on to wider international attention, including at the Oscars.