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A chilling new documentary about Israel's AI-powered mass killing of civilians in Gaza from two Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers received a 25-minute ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday.The audience clapped continuously for Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor after the screening, an AFP reporter witnessed, setting what is thought to be a new record in Venice after a 23-minute ovation for another film about Gaza last year.In their film "NAZA", Abraham and Szor used conversations with 24 different Israeli military or intelligence whistleblowers who spoke on condition that their identities be protected.**media[489883]**"We are letting the soldiers and the officers speak about what they did," Abraham told AFP."The goal was very simple: we wanted to hear in as much detail as possible, how the systems of killing in Gaza looked like, how they operated."The 80-minute film left many audience members stunned, with interviewees describing how they felt like they worked in a killing "factory" or a lethal video game."NAZA" draws its name from a euphemism used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians that are expected to be killed in an airstrike.It was described as an "urgent, gut-punch" by film magazine Screen, while The Hollywood Reporter said it inspired "outrage...indignity as well. Most certainly disgust, on a profound level, for the current Israeli regime".Israel's bombardment of Gaza has left around 73,500 Palestinians dead and 174,500 wounded since October 2023, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the United Nations deems reliable.The pounding of the territory followed an attack on Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, that resulted in the death of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.First-person testimony The men and women featured in "NAZA", with their voices and faces digitally altered, detail an AI-powered system known as "Lavender" that was used to identify people for assassination."It was done on a mass scale, like a factory," one says, filmed like all of them at night on a roof terrace with an eerily quiet Tel Aviv as the background."Lavender" uses data from the mass surveillance of Gaza, where the entire telecommunications network is monitored by Israel, to identify targets based on their phone calls, movements and interactions."The systems parameters are so complex, it's hard to understand," one interviewee, who said he worked on the system, told the filmmakers.Others describe the systematic destruction of civilian homes, the disregard for war and humanitarian laws, and a "general atmosphere" of "hatred" towards Palestinians."It's like a video game because everything is done remotely," one interviewee involved in identifying targets says at one point.Another describes it as "insanely fun".Gaza filmsThe result of a nearly three-year investigation, "NAZA" is the only documentary in competition at this year's Venice Film Festival, which wraps up on Saturday.Ovations can be easily manipulated and are seen as an imperfect measure of a film, but they do give an indication of the impact on festival-goers and critics.Along with Palestinian peers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, Abraham and Szor won an Oscar in 2025 for their film "No Other Land" about Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.Their latest movie has been produced by Britain's Jim Wilson with help from Jonathan Glazer -- the team behind Auschwitz-set Oscar winner "The Zone of Interest" -- as well as Britain's Guardian newspaper.The war in Gaza retains broad Israeli public support, but Abraham and Szor said they hoped it would encourage Western nations to drop their backing for Israel and apply pressure through sanctions."Those of us inside Israel and Palestine trying to fight for change, need it," Abraham told AFP. "You are weakening the people inside who are supporting human rights and a political solution by refusing to act."Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza, accusing Hamas of hiding among the population of the densely packed and besieged enclave where around two million people lived before the war.Last year, "The Voice of Hind Rajab", a docu-drama about the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl by Israeli forces, picked up second prize at the festival after receiving a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere.Increasing numbers of top entertainment figures are openly criticising the Israeli government, as part of a shift in public opinion in Western countries against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies.Foreign journalists have been prevented from reporting from Gaza since the start of the conflict, except under tightly controlled conditions with the Israeli military.

A gentle study of dysfunctional families by veteran American director Jim Jarmusch clinched top prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday, while a harrowing docu-drama about the Gaza war took second. Jarmusch's *Father Mother Sister Brother starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, drew mostly positive reviews for its humourous portrayal of awkwardness and guilt. The *Broken Flowers director, who wrote the script for three family get-togethers in upstate New York, Dublin and Paris, had called it "a kind of anti-action film". "Thank you for appreciating our quiet film," he said during his acceptance speech. In a move that might disappoint campaigners against the Gaza war, the Venice jury under American director Alexander Payne did not reward *The Voice of Hind Rajab with the Golden Lion. Instead, the film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli troops last year, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the grand jury second prize. Director Kaouther Ben Hania produced a dramatised re-telling of Hind Rajab Hamada's ordeal after she was trapped in a car that came under fire while she and her relatives were fleeing Gaza City. It was the most talked about movie on the Venice Lido and tipped by many as the likely winner after a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Wednesday. Hind Rajab's story "is not hers alone", Ben Hania said as she accepted her award. "It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity," she added. Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix as well as Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer (*The Zone of Interest) and Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron (*Roma) joined the film as executive producers after editing had been completed. Jarmusch signalled his opposition to Israel's continued siege and bombardment of Gaza by wearing a badge saying "Enough" on the red carpet for the Venice awards ceremony. BEST ACTORS Elsewhere Saturday, China's Xin Zhilei won the best actress award for her role in *The Sun Rises on Us All directed by Cai Shangjun. The 39-year-old actress plays a woman trying to make amends with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed. Italy's Toni Servillo won the best actor award after wowing audiences in Paolo Sorrentino's *La Grazia, playing a principled politician facing a moral dilemma. The veteran film and stage actor portrayed an Italian president at the end of his career wrestling with whether or not to sign a bill to legalise euthanasia. Big-budget productions such as Netflix's *Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro and *Jay Kelly by Noah Baumbach as well as Yorgos Lanthimos's *Bugonia with Emma Stone went home empty-handed. In the secondary *Orizzonti (*Horizons) section of the festival, Mexican truck driver drama *En el Camino by David Pablos scooped top prize. *Father Mother Sister Brother is the first Jarmusch film to compete at Venice. The American had previously opted to showcase his productions at rival festival Cannes. Film bible *Variety said his film had his "trademark wry humour but also new notes of mellow, generous wisdom". Screen called it a "tender family triptych". Critics were broadly positive about the line-up of films in Venice this year. The festival is an important launch platform for big-budget international productions and arthouse films. Several previous winners of the prestigious Golden Lion have gone on to Oscar glory, such as *Nomadland and *Joker. *The Smashing Machine by American director Benny Safdie, a touching film about late 1990s mixed martial-arts (MMA) pioneer Mark Kerr, picked up the third-place directing prize Saturday. *The Hollywood Reporter called the film starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson a "compellingly gritty and offbeat biopic", while Johnson was even tipped by some for a best actor award. *Sotto le Nuvole (Below the Clouds), a sumptuous documentary about Naples by acclaimed Italian documentary maker Gianfranco Rosi, won a special jury prize. The Gaza conflict has been a major talking point throughout this year's festival and many prize winners mentioned the war while on stage on Saturday night. An open letter calling on festival organisers to denounce the Israeli government over its offensive in Gaza has been signed by around 2,000 cinema insiders, according to the organisers.

A gut-wrenching new film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year was given a 23-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the star-studded Venice Film Festival Wednesday."The Voice of Hind Rajab", a docu-drama about real events from January 2024, left much of the audience and many journalists sobbing as it screened for the first time.Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and her cast, all dressed in black, were also in tears as they soaked in applause, cheers and shouts of "Free Palestine! at the 1,032-seat main festival cinema."We see that the narrative all around world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage, in the media," Ben Hania told journalists ahead of the premiere."And I think this is so dehumanising, and that's why cinema, art and every kind of expression is very important to give those people a voice and face." Her film tells the story of Hind Rajab Hamada who was fleeing the Israeli military in Gaza City with six relatives last year when their car came under fire.The sole survivor, her desperate calls with the Red Crescent rescue service -- which were recorded and released -- brief caused international outrage."The Voice of Hind Rajab" has plenty of famous names attached as executive producers -- from actors Joaquin Phoenix, who attended the premiere, and Brad Pitt to Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer ("The Zone of Interest") and Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron ("Roma")."I'm very happy, and I never in my life thought that can be possible," Ben Hania said of her A-list backers.Its premiere came on the same day as a senior Israeli military official said one million Palestinians could be displaced by a new offensive around Gaza City."The Voice of Hind Rajab" makes chilling use of the real phone recordings of Hind Rajab, but tells the story through a dramatised Red Crescent team which is trying to coordinate her rescue."It is dramatisation, but very close to what they experienced," Ben Hania added.Hind Rajab was eventually found dead along with two ambulance staff who went to rescue her."Please come to me, please come. I'm scared," she can be heard sobbing repeatedly in the film while bullets fly in the background.She is described as six years old, but a death certificate viewed by AFP in Gaza showed her age as five.Deadline magazine said the film "could be the lightning rod that supporters of the Gazan cause are waiting for", while Vogue tipped it for Venice's top prize on Saturday.A critic in Variety magazine said the "shattering" audio footage "carries a brutal emotional wallop" but the mix of drama and documentary footage was "questionable."The Gaza conflict has been a major talking point at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where thousands of protesters marched to the entrance of the event on Saturday.An open letter calling on festival organisers to denounce the Israeli government has been signed by around 2,000 cinema insiders, according to the organisers.Hind Rajab's mother, Wissam Hamada, said she hoped the film would help end the war."The whole world has left us to die, to go hungry, to live in fear and to be forcibly displaced without doing anything," Hamada told AFP by phone from Gaza City where she lives with her five-year-old son.Israel's bombardment has killed at least 63,633 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations deems reliable.Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said the circumstances of Hind Rajab's death were "still being reviewed", without giving further details.It has never announced a formal investigation into the case.The war in Gaza has regularly caused tension in the cinema world since Israel launched its offensive in October 2023 in retaliation for a storming of Israel by Palestinian Hamas group fighters.Hundreds of actors and directors signed an open letter during the Cannes film festival in May saying they were "ashamed" of their industry's "passivity" about the war.Cannes began under the shadow of the killing of Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, the subject of the documentary which was picked for a sidebar section of the festival.A day after Hassouna was told the film had been selected, an Israeli air strike on her home in northern Gaza killed her and 10 relatives.