Gaza documentary NAZA sets Venice ovation record

A new documentary about the war in Gaza has received what is believed to be the longest standing ovation in the history of the Venice Film Festival. NAZA, directed by Oscar winners Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, was applauded for roughly 25 minutes by the audience at its premiere on Thursday, September 10, according to on-site reporting. Some accounts put the ovation at 24.5 minutes, but all agree it surpassed the previous record set last year by The Voice of Hind Rajab, which received between 22 and 24 minutes depending on the report. Before that, Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth had held the Venice record with 22 minutes at its 2006 premiere. The 80-minute film features conversations with 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence personnel, filmed at night on Tel Aviv rooftops with their faces and voices digitally altered. The interviewees describe targeting systems used in Gaza, including an artificial intelligence tool known as Lavender, which they said identified people for assassination using data drawn from mass surveillance of Gaza's telecommunications network.