Director Kaouther Ben Hania receives the Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize for "The Voice of Hind Rajab" from Italian film director Maura Delpero during the award ceremony of the 82nd Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2025 at Venice Lido. (Tiziana FABI / AFP)
The Venice film festival awards its top prize to Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother,” giving second-place to fan-favorite “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a documentary about a 5-year-old Palestinian girl allegedly killed by Israeli troops in Gaza last year.
The film, which uses the real audio of the young girl’s desperate pleas for help as her car comes under fire, was given a record 24-minute standing ovation at its premiere, and many thought it would take home the top prize.
Instead, the film, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the Silver Lion.
Hind Rajab’s story “is not hers alone,” director Kaouther Ben Hania says as she accepts her award.
“It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity,” she adds.
Palestinian girl Hind Rajab. (Family handout via AFP)
“Cinema cannot bring Hind back, nor can it erase the atrocity committed against her. Nothing can ever restore what was taken, but cinema can preserve her voice, make it resonate across borders,” Ben Hania says.
Jarmusch signals his own opposition to the war by wearing a badge saying “Enough” on the red carpet for the Venice awards ceremony.
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From the Liveblog of
Saturday, September 6, 2025
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