How Kaouther Ben Hania amplified the Palestinian voice

The director of ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ talks about staying respectful while being true to devastating real events

- Uday Bhatia [e-mail]

The most wrenching moment in The Voice of Hind Rajab comes late in the film.

The Red Crescent despatchers have lost contact with the Palestinian girl they've been talking to. They assume she’s died, along with her four cousins, uncle and aunt, in a bullet-ridden car surrounded by Israeli forces. But then they hear her again. Permissions finally come through for an ambulance to approach. For the first time, they dream of a miraculous rescue. But we know this won't happen.

Five-year-old Hind Rajab was killed on 29 January 2024, along with six family members and the two men in the ambulance that went to rescue her. The details of her death, and the recordings of her desperate pleas for help, drew global outrage. One of the many deeply affected was Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, who reached out to the girl’s mother to ask for permission to make a film about her killing. She shot it in Tunisia, with Palestinian actors playing the Red Crescent workers. The film premiered at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival.

At this year's Berlinale, where organisers and several of the jury came in for strong criticism for their hands-off stance on Palestine, Ben Hania rejected the “Most Valuable Film’ prize at the Cinema for Peace gala. With an India release for The Voice of Hind Rajab being negotiated, we spoke to Ben Hania about her concise, necessary film. Edited excerpts from the interview:

This movie, the desire or the urgency to do it, started when I heard the voice of Hind for the first time, on social media. I talked to Hind’s mother and she told me, please do the movie. The main idea was how to make the most impactful but also respectful movie, because this story affected me in a very deep way and I wanted to share what I felt with the audience.