Venice, Italy - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez received Monday a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival when he attended a gala screening of Oliver Stone's South of the Border. The leftist Latin American leader's arrived in the lagoon city to pay homage to Stone's documentary which in part deals with the alleged demonizing of Chavez by the US media and is screening out-of-competition at the festival.
Chavez acknowledged the audience's applause with waving arms before taking up a seat next to Stone in the Sala Grande main hall of the film festival's Palazzo del Cinema venue.
Earlier Monday, Stone praised Chavez, whom he interviews extensively in the film, and "all the wonderful change" which has occurred in Venezuela, since the former military officer came to power in 1999.
The US filmmaker also defended Chavez's ties with Iran, that have come under fire from Washington.
The Venezuelan president in Tehran on Sunday met his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and struck an agreement for Venezuela to export petrol to the Islamic Republic.
Chavez's visit for Stone's film - in which the director visits seven Latin American nations where he denounces the impact of Washington-inspired neo-liberal economic policies - has poured further fuel on an already politically charged festival.
Saturday Venice saw the world premiere of the hard-hitting Capitalism: A Love Story by another controversial US director, Michael Moore.
Moore, in his film which has been well received in Venice, roundly attacks the US banking system and US government policies, which he accuses of being the cause of the current financial crisis.
Political waves from this year's festival have also seen Italian conservative parliamentarian Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, begin legal action last week against the makers of a Romanian film screened at the festival, which she alleges slandered her.
In one scene of the film - Francesca, which denounces xenophobia in Italy against immigrants - a character refers to Mussolini as a "sow" who wants to have Romanians killed.
