“The Voice of Hind Rajab” premiere at the Venice Film Festival proved to be a hugely emotional event, with very few dry eyes in the Sale Grande.
One of the most talked-about films going into the festival, the powerful and gut-wrenching drama — from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania — tells the true story of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab. It received a huge 22-minute standing ovation, the longest of the festival so far. As the ovation surpassed 20 minutes, and in a clear effort to get the room to disperse, the lights were dimmed in the theatre. The clapping continued.
While fleeing with her family from Gaza City in January 2024, the car Rajab was traveling in was shelled, killing her uncle, aunt and three cousins. She was left stranded for hours in the vehicle while on the phone to the Palestinian Red Cross Society as paramedics attempted to rescue her. When she was eventually reached, both Rajab and the paramedics were found dead, with media investigations concluding that an Israeli tank had likely fired 335 rounds into the car. The phone recording of Rajab’s voice is used in the film.
Attendees in the crowd were holding up several Palestinian flags, and chants of “Free Palestine” rang out during the applause. Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who are executive producers of the film, were in attendance and held a photo of Rajab on the red carpet with the filmmaking team. Phoenix also wore a Artists for Ceasefire pin.
Even before the first official screening, many festival attendees were already predicting that the film was a frontrunner for the Golden Lion. The emotional reception at the premiere would appear to back this up.
At the press conference for “The Voice of Hind Rajab” earlier in the day, which began with a lengthy standing ovation from much of the room, one of the film’s stars, Saja Kilani, read out a statement on behalf of the filmmaking team.
“We ask: Isn’t it enough? Enough of the mass killing, the starvation, the destruction, the dehumanization, the ongoing occupation,” she said.
“Hind’s story carries the weight of an entire people, it is not hers alone. Her voice is one amongst 19000 children who lost their lives in Gaza in the last two years alone. It is the voice of every mother, father, doctor, teacher, artist, journalist, volunteer, paramedic, each with the right to live, to dream, to exist in dignity, yet all of it was stolen in front of unblinking eyes. And these are only the voices we know. Beyond every number is a story that never got to be told.”
Kilani added: “Hind’s story is a about a child crying out, ‘Save me.’ And the haunting question is: how have we let a child beg for life and go unheard? No one can live in peace while even one child is still fighting for life. Let Hind Rajab’s voice echo in every theatre, let it remind you of the silence the world has built around Gaza, let it name the genocide that silence protects and let it pierce the word: enough.”
As the Venice Film Festival started, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” was boarded by the likes of Brad Pitt , Phoenix and Mara as producers. Phoenix and Mara were present at the press conference to show their support. Asked whether them joining the film showed that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “losing the culture war” in Hollywood, Ben Hania said she hoped their participation would “mean something.”
“We’ve seen that the narrative around the world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage. This is so dehumanizing,” she said. And that’s why cinema, art and every kind of expression is very important — to give those people a voice and a face.”
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