“Voice of Hind Rajab” acclaimed at Venice Film Festival

The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film recreating the last hours of six-year-old Hind Rajab and the frantic effort to save her, won a standing ovation that lasted more than 20 minutes at the Venice Film Festival September 3.

Director Kaouther Ben Hania used Hind’s actual voice, recorded by the Palestinian Red Crescent over a period of three hours on January 29, 2024, as she begged for rescue, surrounded by her dead relatives after their car was attacked by Israeli forces at a gas station. 

The film does not portray the violence. It tells the story Hind from the perspective of the Red Crescent call center workers. They were able to get permission from the Israeli forces to send an ambulance to the site, but lost contact with both the girl and the two ambulance crew members. When the Israelis later withdrew, the girl and the ambulance crew were found dead. 

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