The Voice of Hind Rajab

With The Voice of Hind Rajab, six-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab gets her voice back. Director Kaouther Ben Hania reconstructs the shocking, true events surrounding her death using the original phone calls between Hind and the emergency services. The result is an urgent, confronting, and unique cinematic experience. On January 29, 2024, volunteers from the Red Crescent receive an emergency call. A six-year-old girl, Hind Rajab, is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza and pleads for help. While the responders try to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. But without permission from the Israeli army, no vehicle can enter. They wait for hours for a response, but ultimately, all help arrives too late. Hind’s voice remains as a testimony. The scenes in the emergency call center are reconstructed and staged based on eyewitness accounts and transcripts; the voices on the recordings are real. Kaouther Ben Hania says: “This story is about our shared responsibility (…) and how the silence of the world is part of the violence.” The Voice of Hind Rajab won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and the Grand Prix for Best Film at Film Fest Gent. The film is also Tunisia’s submission for the Oscars, giving Kaouther Ben Hania another chance at an Academy Award following her previous nominations for Four Daughters and The Man Who Sold His Skin.