Danish wartime drama takes Venice’s top prize as Gaza documentary wins jury award
May el-Toukhy’s Unknown Woman wins the Golden Lion, while NAZA receives the special jury prize at a festival shaped by themes of war and anxiety.
The Venice Film Festival has awarded its Golden Lion to Danish drama Unknown Woman, directed by May el-Toukhy. The film follows a woman trying to conceal a wartime relationship with a Nazi in occupied Denmark.
Gaza documentary NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, received the special jury prize. The film reportedly drew a 25-minute ovation at its premiere and had been tipped by some critics for the festival’s top award.
NAZA examines alleged Israeli AI-assisted targeting systems in Gaza through interviews with Israeli military and intelligence whistleblowers. The allegations about the systems and their use were made by the filmmakers and interviewees. The Israeli military said the anonymous whistleblowers’ identities could not be verified.
The awards concluded 10 days of programming that Venice organisers framed around global war and anxiety. The festival’s competition also drew attention to the limited number of women directors: el-Toukhy was the only female director among the 21 competing films apart from Szor.
South Korean director Lee Chang-dong won the Silver Lion for Possible Love. Ilya Khrzhanovsky took best director for DAU, while John Malkovich won best actor and Denmark’s Mathilde Arcel was named best actress for Unknown Woman.
