In Italy, audience members at the Venice Film Festival rose for a record 22-minute standing ovation Wednesday after the premiere of “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a docudrama about a Palestinian girl whose killing by Israeli forces in Gaza in January 2024 reverberated around the world. The film, by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, incorporates real audio recordings of phone calls from Hind as she was trapped under Israeli fire for hours, begging to be rescued from a car where her aunt, uncle and three cousins lay dead. Hind was ultimately killed, along with two Palestinian paramedics dispatched to rescue her. Ahead of the film’s premiere, actress Saja Kilani read a statement on behalf of the cast and crew.
bq. Saja Kilani: “On behalf of all of us actors and in the name of the entire team, we ask: Isn’t it enough? Enough of the mass killing, the starvation, the dehumanization, the destruction, the ongoing occupation. 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' does not need our defense. This film is not an opinion or a fantasy. It is anchored in truth. Hind’s story carries the weight of an entire people.”