The key facts

  • The film received the best documentary award at Cinemania in Montreal on November 14; the award was accepted by AFP's Gaza bureau coordinator Adel Zaazaa.
  • About 85% of the film is based on footage shot by the journalists themselves — the director was unable to enter Gaza because international press access was barred by the Israeli army.
  • Earlier, the film won the Grand Prize and the Audience Award at FIGRA in April 2026 and two Doc Edge awards in New Zealand in July.

The award in Montreal

The documentary «Dans Gaza» by director Hélène Lam Trong received the best documentary award on November 14 at the Cinemania French-language film festival in Montreal. The 72-minute film follows four Agence France-Presse journalists: reporter Mai Yaghi, Gaza bureau coordinator Adel Zaazaa, and photojournalists Mahmoud Hams and Mohammed Abed. Zaazaa accepted the award on behalf of the team, dedicating it to the journalists killed in the war in Gaza and to those who continue working on the ground, in his words, «without food, without water, without internet, without anything».

A film made without entering Gaza

The film covers the first seven months after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, when free access of the international press to the enclave was barred by the Israeli army and the world's media relied on Palestinian journalists on the ground. For more than 200 days, the four reporters worked under bombardment, enduring the same hardships as the population while simultaneously protecting their own families. AFP approached Lam Trong in January 2024, but the director was never able to enter Gaza: after the journalists were evacuated with their families through Egypt, she met them in Cairo. Almost 85% of the film is built on footage shot by the reporters themselves as part of their work for the agency.

The road to the Oscars

The film, made in 2025, is a Franco-Belgian co-production of Factstory Docs (AFP's documentary subsidiary), ARTE France and RTBF. Before Montreal, it was already recognized at Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, won the Grand Prize and the Audience Award at FIGRA in April 2026, and in July received two awards at the Doc Edge festival in New Zealand: for best international documentary and best editing. According to Euronews, this trajectory opens the possibility of a nomination for the 2027 Oscar in the documentary category; the nomination itself has not yet been announced.