Venice, Italy - The Venice Film Festival became even more politically charged Monday when organizers announced the arrival later in the day of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The leftist Latin American leader is scheduled to attend an evening gala screening of Oliver Stone's South of the Border, a documentary dealing with the alleged demonizing of Chavez by the US media.

Stone on Monday praised Chavez, whom he interviews extensively in the film, and "all the wonderful change" which has occurred in Venezuela.

The US filmmaker also defended Chavez's ties with Iran, which have been criticized by Washington.

The Venezuelan president Sunday ended at two-day visit to Iran, where he met his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and struck an agreement for Venezuela to export petrol to the Islamic Republic.

Stone's film, in which in visits to seven Latin American nations he denounces the impact of Washington-inspired neo-liberal economic policies, follows the screening at the festival 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. (dpa)