THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB World Cinema

On January 29, 2024, five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab and six members of her family attempted to flee to safety during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military shelled and shot at the fleeing vehicle, killing Hind’s family and trapping the young girl in the wreckage of the car. Hind was able to place a call to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society desperately begging for help but the aid workers dispatched to her rescue were also murdered by the Israeli forces — as, ultimately, Hind was herself. Instead of directly depicting this horrific atrocity, celebrated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (FOUR DAUGHTERS, AFI FEST 2023) centers the drama of her latest film within the offices of the Palestinian Red Crescent, chronicling the efforts of the aid workers tasked with maintaining an open phone line to Hind while navigating a byzantine bureaucracy in order to get her the help she needs. In a bold and inspired move, Ben Hania utilizes the real audio of Hind’s phone calls in the film, blurring the line between fiction and documentary, yet never feeling exploitative; in fact, Ben Hania made the film with the support of Hind’s mother and the valiant real-life workers who coordinated the rescue effort. Tunisia’s Oscar® entry for Best International Feature Film, THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB is no doubt a heartbreaking watch but is also an urgent examination of the inefficient and complex systems humanitarian aid organizations work within — and commemorates a life taken too soon by a brutal genocide. –Javier Chavez