Gaza drama gets 23-minute ovation at Venice premiere

By AFP and ToI Staff 3 September 2025, 10:25 pm

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From left : (From L) Tunisian producer Nadim Cheikhrouha, Israeli actor Amer Hlehel, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, actress Saja Kilani, actor Motaz Malhees, actress Clara Khoury, producer Odessa Rae, Jim Wilson, US actress Rooney Mara and US actor Joaquin Phoenix pose with a portrait of late Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, during the red carpet for the movie 'The Voice of Hind Rajab,' presented in competition at the 82nd International Venice Film Festival, at Venice Lido on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

A gut-wrenching new film about a five-year-old girl allegedly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year was given a 23-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the star-studded Venice Film Festival.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a docu-drama about events from January 2024, left much of the audience and many journalists sobbing as it screened for the first time.

Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and her cast, all dressed in black, were also in tears as they soaked in applause, cheers and shouts of “Free Palestine! at the 1,032-seat main festival cinema.

“We see that the narrative all around the world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage, in the media,” Ben Hania tells journalists ahead of the premiere.

“And I think this is so dehumanizing, and that’s why cinema, art and every kind of expression is very important to give those people a voice and face.”

Her film tells the story of Hind Rajab Hamada who was fleeing the Israeli military in Gaza City with six relatives last year when their car came under fire.

The sole survivor, her desperate calls with the Red Crescent rescue service — which were recorded and released — caused international outrage.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab” has plenty of famous names attached as executive producers — from actors Joaquin Phoenix, who attended the premiere, and Brad Pitt to Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) and Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”).

“I’m very happy, and I never in my life thought that could be possible,” Ben Hania said of her A-list backers.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has accused Israel of deliberately targeting the ambulance it sent to rescue Rajab.

The Israel Defense Forces said, some weeks after Rajab’s death, that an initial investigation suggested no troops were in the area when she was killed.

A Washington Post report published after the IDF’s statement found that Israeli armored vehicles were, in fact, operating in the area at the time, and that the gunfire heard in the Red Crescent recordings was consistent with IDF weapons.