SHOOTING (2025) — Feature Documentary

Logline
A trilogy exposing how militarism infiltrates filmmaking—and how fiction can wound real lives.

Synopsis
A war recreated for filming leads to the fleeing of a village; weapons are planted in a Palestinian family’s home to stage an action scene; and a props man with PTSD deals with moral trauma. The trilogy examines how militarism (also) corrupts cinema.

Awards & Festivals

  • Telluride Film Festival: World Premiere

  • DocAviv: Special Jury Award

  • Ophir Awards: Best Documentary (nominated)

  • Israeli Documentary Forum Awards’ (nominated): Best Documentary, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Research

Director’s Statement
I hope this film can open a deep conversation about cinema, war, ethics, resistance, and responsibility.

Press / Reviews

Cast & Crew

  • Director / Writer: Netalie Braun

  • Producers: Netalie Braun, Tal Barda

  • Research: Netalie Braun, Sahera Derbas

  • Visual Research: Lily Yudinsky, Netalie Braun

  • Editor: Nili Feller

  • Cinematography: Itay Marom

  • Soundtrack: Aviv Aldema

  • Music : Ophir Leibovitch, Yonatan Leibovitch

Financial Support

  • Makor Film Fund

  • Galil Film Fund

  • yes Docu

  • Rabinovich Film Fund Cinema Project

  • Jerusalem Culture Unlimited

  • Bar-Kayma for Culture, Art, Music and Peace

Shooting was born out of moments when I realized that filmmaking itself can become an act of violence.

In Israel and Palestine, cinema often operates in close proximity to military power—sometimes documenting it, sometimes reenacting it, and sometimes unknowingly serving it. I was drawn to cases in which the line between representation and harm collapsed completely: a village evacuated for a shoot, a family framed for the sake of a scene, a weapons expert carrying invisible wounds while enabling fictional wars.

This film is not an accusation against individuals, but an examination of systems—of how images are produced, who pays the price for them, and what remains unseen when cinema borrows the language of force. Shooting asks what ethical responsibility filmmakers bear when fiction enters real lives already shaped by violence.
— Netalie Braun