With tearful applause, chants of “Free, Free Palestine”, and a sea of Palestinian flags, The Voice of Hind Rajab received an overwhelming reception at its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The powerful docudrama, which recounts the heartbreaking final moments of a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, was honored with a standing ovation that lasted over 23 minutes — one of the longest in the festival’s history.
The film tells the true story of Hind Rajab, a young girl whose desperate pleas for help were recorded during the final hours of her life. Trapped in a car in Gaza City after an Israeli attack killed her aunt, uncle, and three cousins, Hind remained alive, terrified, and alone. For hours, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society remained on the phone with her, offering words of comfort as they tried in vain to reach her.
Premiering on Wednesday, the emotional film left a profound impact on the audience, many of whom were visibly moved by the reenacted recordings and raw portrayal of the tragedy. The standing ovation, filled with emotion and solidarity, became a moment of collective mourning and political expression, echoing far beyond the cinema hall.
Original audio recordings from the January 29, 2024, attack capture the haunting voice of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire in Gaza. As gunshots rang out in the background, Hind is heard sobbing and pleading with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society:
“Please come to me, please come. I’m scared.”
For over three hours, rescue teams were forced to wait for clearance from the Israeli military before being allowed to dispatch an ambulance to Hind’s location. Just after the ambulance reached the scene, all communication with the girl abruptly ended.
Tragically, days later, the bodies of Hind Rajab and her family members were discovered at the site. Alongside them were the remains of the two ambulance workers who had tried to save her — their vehicle destroyed in the same attack.
Speaking ahead of the film’s premiere, Kaouther Ben Hania, the Franco-Tunisian director of The Voice of Hind Rajab, criticized how mainstream media often portrays the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza merely as “collateral damage.”
“I believe that kind of language is deeply dehumanizing,” Ben Hania said. “That’s why cinema, art, and all forms of creative expression are essential to give these people a voice and a face.”
Wissam Hamada, Hind Rajab’s mother, expressed hope that the film would not only preserve her daughter’s memory but also help shine a global spotlight on the suffering in Gaza. “The whole world has abandoned us, left us to die, to starve, to live in constant fear, and to be forcibly displaced,” she told AFP in a phone interview from Gaza City, where she remains with her surviving five-year-old son.
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