Film recalling Palestinian girl's plea for life gets record 23-minute ovation at Venice
Entertainment
In January 2024, Israeli soldiers killed a six-year-old girl as she tried to flee Gaza City in a car
(Web Desk) - Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab received a historic 23-minute, 50-second, standing ovation at its premiere at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, the longest ever recorded at the event on Wednesday.
The docudrama recounts the final hours of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who died in Gaza Strip on January 29, 2024, when Israeli fire hit her family’s car. Her voice was captured in a call to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, pleading for help while trapped beside her slain relatives.
An ambulance was dispatched but struck before reaching her. Both medics were killed. Hind’s body was found days later beside that of her cousin Layan.
.jpg)
The world premiere left much of the audience in tears. Chants of “Free Palestine” filled the theatre as actor Motaz Malhees raised a Palestinian flag. Ben Hania stood on stage with Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who held a portrait of Hind. Backed by an international roster of producers including Brad Pitt, Alfonso Cuarón and Jonathan Glazer, the film blends documentary audio with dramatic reconstruction to underline what Ben Hania described as the “human stories reduced to statistics.”
The ovation surpassed festival records, eclipsing Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth at Cannes in 2006 and Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door at Venice last year.
“#TheVoiceOfHindRajab cast hold up a picture of Hind Rajab during their record-breaking 23-minute-plus ovation this evening at the #VeniceFilmFestival.
— May ️
Rajab was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year. The film chronicles the 6-year-old's final hours.”
via deadline pic.twitter.com/CkbumvkCn7
