In The Voice of Hind Rajab (Sawt Hind Rajab), writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania dramatizes the true story of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was murdered by Israeli military forces on January 29, 2024. (In the film, for some reason, Hind is six years old.)
Hind, along with four cousins, her aunt and uncle, were trying to evacuate a neighborhood in Gaza City in a Kia when a unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) began shooting at them. Hind’s 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamada, called the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and said that everyone but she and Hind had been killed, and that a tank was closing in on them. The Israelis in the tank shot Layan to death. Hind was now alone, trapped in the car and badly injured.
The film tells this story from the point-of-view of the Red Crescent workers who are trying to save Hind. They keep talking to her, and the actual recordings of her voice are used in the film.
In theory, the IDF can give permission for a Red Crescent ambulance with two paramedics to enter the area and save Hind. Permission is finally granted, but the IDF does not live up to their agreement.
This is the fourth time that one of Kaouther Ben Hania’s films has been entered in the Academy Awards. Her documentary, Four Daughters, was nominated for best documentary feature. Her other films are Beauty and the Dogs and The Man Who Sold His Skin.
