The Film“The Voice Of Hind Rajab” Documents The Tragedy Of A Gazan Child At The Venice Film Festival

(MENAFN- Amman Net) Wissam Hamadeh, the mother of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli occupation forces in January 2024, hopes that the film carrying her daughter's name will help stop the ongoing war in Gaza and save children's lives.

Speaking from Gaza, Hamadeh said:“I wish the voice of Gaza would reach the world, that this film could help end this devastating war, and that it might protect other children.” She stressed that Hind's story is only one among thousands of tragedies endured by the people of Gaza.

The film, titled“The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, is competing in the official selection at this year's Venice Film Festival alongside 20 other films. It reconstructs the final hours of Hind's life, relying on the original audio recordings of her desperate calls for help before she was killed - recordings her family agreed to share.

Hind was killed on January 29, 2024, when Israeli soldiers fired more than 300 rounds at the car she was in, in Tel al-Hawa, southwest Gaza, according to an investigation by Forensic Architecture. The bodies of six of her relatives, as well as medics who tried to rescue her, were later found nearby.

Hind's story resonated widely across the world, with her final phone calls becoming a symbol of Palestinian civilian suffering and prompting human rights groups to call for an independent international investigation. Her mother said:“My daughter's voice is now heard around the world, but she was just one among thousands of victims. Why hasn't the world acted to save the other mothers and children?”

Director Kaouther Ben Hania explained that she spent long hours listening to Hind's mother and those on the other end of the calls:“I cried and I wrote. I wanted Hind's voice to remain alive, to embody the tragedy of Gaza's civilians.” She emphasized that the film is not only an artistic work, but also a human testimony to a war crime.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab” premieres Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival. Entirely set inside the operations center of the Palestinian Red Crescent, the film is a harrowing portrayal of the Israeli assault on Gaza's civilians. It incorporates Hind's real distress call while actors portray the medics.

“When you hear her voice, you feel powerless,” Ben Hania said. Hind's cousin Layan, who was in the same car, had told the family before being killed that Israeli forces were shooting at them. The Red Crescent later reported that Israeli forces also fired on its ambulance. Asked for comment, the Israeli army said only that the incident was“still under review.”

For 12 days after losing contact with Hind and the medics, the audio recording circulated widely on social media. Listening to it, Ben Hania said she felt compelled to act:“I felt as if she was asking me to save her. Of course, I knew the tragedy had already happened. But I asked myself: what can I do? And I knew only one thing: I can tell stories.”

Her urgency grew after hearing the full set of recordings from that day. The pressure to make the film was so strong that she put another project on hold and worked at unprecedented speed.“I felt in a state of emergency, and I passed that feeling on to everyone,” she recalled.

Her first step was meeting Hind's mother, who gave her blessing and shared intimate details about her daughter - from her love of the sea to her dream of becoming a dentist. Ben Hania then assembled a cast including Sajaa Kollani, Moataz Mleiss, Clara Khoury, and Amir Khoury, emphasizing her wish to feature Palestinian actors.

The material itself provided the script: urgent rescue pleas, raw emotion, and suffocating bureaucracy. The result was structured like a Hollywood thriller - but without a happy ending.“What happened in this story, and in Gaza in general, goes beyond imagination. I didn't need to invent anything, which is crazy,” she said.“The tape starts with the death of Hind's cousin. And then another child to save - Hind.”

One key decision was to avoid showing a child trapped in a car filled with bodies. The camera never leaves the Red Crescent control room.“I wasn't interested in showing images of horror - we see them everywhere online. They're impactful, but the world has grown numb. I felt the best way to tell the story was from this perspective. Hind's voice felt sacred in my hands,” Ben Hania explained.

The filmmaking process was intensely emotional. Crew members often broke into tears, and the actors themselves were deeply moved as they responded to Hind's real voice, echoing the exact words spoken by their real-life counterparts.“They are great actors, but their reaction to her voice went beyond acting,” Ben Hania said.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab” is expected to be one of the most powerful films of the Venice Festival and the upcoming awards season. After its completion and selection for Venice, Hollywood names including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jonathan Glazer joined as executive producers. Tunisia has also submitted the film as its entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. Ben Hania is already a two-time Oscar nominee, for“Four Daughters” (Best Documentary) and“The Man Who Sold His Skin” (Best International Feature).

The film's debut comes as Israel's U.S.- and Western-backed assault on Gaza, ongoing since October 7, 2023, continues to kill, starve, displace, and destroy. The offensive has already left more than 224,000 people dead or wounded - the majority women and children - along with 9,000 missing and hundreds of thousands displaced, in defiance of international rulings and orders from the International Court of Justice to stop the massacres.

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