Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor set a new record at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, September 10, when their Gaza documentary Naza received 24 and a half minutes of applause following its screening.
The record-breaking ovation for the film, which examines Israeli military operations and attacks in the Gaza Strip, was reported by the American trade publication Variety.
The 24.5-minute reaction surpassed the previous festival applause record of 23 minutes set by The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film recounting the final hours of a young Palestinian girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire in Gaza.
The screening marks the second consecutive year that a documentary focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has achieved the longest standing ovation at the prestigious annual festival in Italy.
Documentary details and regional backdrop
The documentary addresses the deaths of civilians in Gaza caused by Israeli military forces. According to the released synopsis, the production was filmed at night from rooftops in Tel Aviv and details the mechanisms behind the calculated mass extermination of Palestinian civilians in Gaza by Israel.
The film details military operations launched after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. According to Israeli figures, the Hamas attack killed approximately 1,200 people. Palestinian health authorities state that more than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel initiated its military campaign against the coastal territory.
The Gaza Strip is a narrow coastal enclave on the eastern Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Israel and Egypt. Tel Aviv, located along the Mediterranean coast about 40 miles north of Gaza, serves as Israel's financial and commercial center.
Acclaimed directors and production team
The directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, are an Israeli filmmaking duo who previously co-directed the documentary No Other Land. Created alongside a collective of Palestinian and Israeli activists, that film received widespread acclaim for its depiction of West Bank communities and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2025.
The production of Naza was led by Jonathan Glazer, a prominent British filmmaker recognized for works outside the Hollywood studio system. Glazer directed the Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest, which won two Oscars in 2024, including the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
The Venice Film Festival, established in 1932 on the Lido of Venice, is the world's oldest film festival and one of the major European film events alongside Cannes and Berlin. Hollywood trade magazine Variety, founded in 1905 in Los Angeles, routinely monitors standing ovations as indicators of critical consensus during the global awards season.
