An AI documentary on Gaza just received a record 25-minute ovation at Venice. Here’s why everyone is talking about it

At this year's Venice Film Festival, cinema and artificial intelligence collided in the most visceral way imaginable. Filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor unveiled their documentary NAZA, an investigation into algorithmic warfare in Gaza that sparked an unprecedented 25-minute standing ovation, leaving an audience visibly shaken and setting an emotional festival record.

Why the Venice Film Festival crowd could not stop clapping

While artificial intelligence is dominating conversations across cinema—from digital likenesses to creative ethics—NAZA examines the technology through an urgent humanitarian lens. The 80-minute feature investigates how an automated system known as 'Lavender' has been deployed to identify targets remotely. Drawing upon testimony from 24 military and intelligence whistleblowers whose identities were protected through altered visuals and voices, the project exposes the cold mechanics of modern warfare.

"We are letting the soldiers and the officers speak about what they did," Yuval explained. "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."

Inside the screening, the accounts proved chilling. Whistleblowers recounted how remote tracking transformed conflict into a mechanised routine. One operative confessed that "it was done on a mass scale, like a factory," whilst another admitted that "it's like a video game because everything is done remotely."

Produced alongside Jim Wilson and Jonathan Glazer, the documentary serves as a stark cultural moment where technology, ethics and human catastrophe intersect. For Yuval and Rachel, the screening was not designed for industry applause, but to provoke immediate global reflection. "Those of us inside Israel and Palestine trying to fight for change, need it," Yuval noted, urging international communities to take decisive diplomatic action.

As festivalgoers continue to buzz about the screening, NAZA demonstrates how non-fiction storytelling can turn cutting-edge technology inside out, transforming digital discourse into an unforgettable moral reckoning.

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