Gaza girl's desperate pleas in 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' shake Venice

The anguished final pleas of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car under Israeli fire are retold in "The Voice of Hind Rajab," a searing new film that received a rapturous premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.

"Hind's story carries the weight of an entire people," one of the actors, Saja Kilani, told reporters in a statement she read out on behalf of the whole cast and crew ahead of the screening.

The true-life drama focuses on telephone operators from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society who tried for hours to reassure the trapped Hind Rajab as she begged to be rescued from the car, where her aunt, uncle and three cousins already lay dead.

"I'm so scared, please come," the little girl says, with the original recordings of her increasingly desperate calls to the dispatchers used to powerful effect throughout the film.

"The real question is, how have we let a child beg for life? No one can live in peace while even one child is forced to plead for survival. ... Let Hind Rajab's voice echo around the world," Kilani said.

After a three-hour wait, the Red Crescent finally got the green light from Israel to dispatch an ambulance to save Hind. But contact with the girl and the rescuers themselves was cut just after the ambulance arrived at the scene.

Days later, the girl's body was found along with those of her relatives in the car. The remains of the two dead ambulance workers were also recovered from their bombed-out vehicle.

The Israel Defence Forces initially said its troops had not been within firing range of the car. However, independent investigations challenged this assertion, and a subsequent UN report said the IDF had destroyed Rajab's car and killed the two medics who were trying to save her.

Asked about the killings this week, the IDF said the incident, which happened on 29 January 2024, was still under review and declined further comment.

STANDING OVATION

The film received a thunderous, 24-minute standing ovation at its premiere, by far the longest of this festival to date, making it the clear crowd favourite to win the prestigious Golden Lion award, which will be awarded on 6 September.

"Free, free Palestine," people in the audience chanted.

The movie has also attracted some top Hollywood names as executive producers, giving it added industry heft, including actors Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who were both in Venice on Wednesday to support the production, as well as Brad Pitt.

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, who also wrote the screenplay, said Hind's voice transcended a single tragedy.

"When I heard the first time the voice of Hind, there was something more than her voice. It was the very voice of Gaza asking for help. ... It was anger and helplessness that gave birth to this movie," she told reporters.

The IDF invaded the Gaza Strip after Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. More than 63,000 people living in Gaza have died in the fighting, Gaza health authorities say.

"The narrative around the world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage. I think this is so dehumanizing, and that's why cinema and art are important, to give those people a voice and a face. We are saying enough, enough of this genocide," Ben Hania said.

The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars announced this week that it had passed a resolution saying the legal criteria had been met to establish that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, something Israel denies.

The actors playing the Red Crescent dispatchers said they only heard Rajab's recordings when they were on the set, making the filming an extremely emotional process.

"There were two times where I couldn't keep filming. I had a panic attack," Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees said.