The Venice Film Festival experienced one of its most striking moments on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, with the world premiere of The Voice of Hind Rajab, the new film by Kaouther Ben Hania, selected for the official competition. This drama, chosen by Tunisia to represent the country in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2026 Oscars, benefits from the support of several Hollywood celebrities as executive producers, including Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer, and Joaquin Phoenix, the latter attending the screening in person.
Inspired by the tragic fate of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in January 2024, the film profoundly moved the audience, earning a standing ovation lasting twenty-three minutes and fifty seconds—a rare intensity even for a major international festival.
Beyond the prolonged applause, the international press praised the film’s artistic and political power. Vulture highlighted the uniqueness of the screening: “After this morning’s screening… the applause reached a level I had never witnessed in this context: it continued, repeatedly, through almost the entire end credits. For critics, the restraint of the narrative device is precisely what gives the film its power: rather than dramatizing events, it remains confined to a call center. This documentary-style approach amplifies the raw emotional impact of the story.”
El País echoed the sentiment, emphasizing the political dimension of the film in a festival already marked by debates and protests: “The film deeply moved both the audience and the critics… Its screening received a prolonged ovation, establishing itself as a powerful political statement.”
For Reuters, the choice to base the story on Hind’s telephone recordings intensifies the film’s emotional impact: “The film, full of emotion, uses the real calls of the child: ‘I’m so afraid, come please.’ The work highlights cinema’s power to restore humanity to victims and question dominant narratives.” The agency noted that this raw authenticity brought many viewers to tears during the premiere.
The Guardian reported similarly: “A standing ovation lasting twenty-three minutes… Critics and the audience were profoundly moved, many leaving the theater in tears.” The British paper also emphasized the words of the actors, calling the film “a representation of the suffering of thousands of children and civilians in Gaza.”
The American trade press also reacted strongly. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as responsible for an “emotional emergency,” while Variety, more measured, recognized that the original Hind Rajab soundtrack “produces an emotional shock of rare brutality,” though it questioned the blending of dramatic reconstruction and documentary material.
In France, Libération underscored the intensity of the experience: “The film conveys with unbearable force the final moments of a Palestinian girl, each second of her voice becoming a cry for peace and justice.”
The most powerful statement, however, came from actress Saja Kilani, who, on behalf of the film team, delivered a passionate speech during the press conference:
“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. Her voice is one amongst tens of thousands of children that were killed in Gaza in the last two years alone. It is the voice of every daughter and every son with the right to live, to dream, to exist in dignity, that all of it was stolen in front of unblinking eyes and these are only the voices we know, behind every number is a story that never got to be told. Hind’s story is about a child crying out to save me and 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’s voice echo around the world that it reminds you of the silence that has been built around Gaza. Let it name the genocide that silence protects, and let it pierce the word enough, not tomorrow, not someday, but now, for justice, for the sake of humanity, for the future of every child, enough.”
From Vulture to El País, Reuters, and The Guardian, the consensus is clear: the premiere of The Voice of Hind Rajab transcended cinema to become both an emotional and political shock. The audience spontaneously chanted “Free Palestine,” demonstrating how the story of a single child can crystallize the pain of a people and the urgency of giving them a voice.
In the devastating context of war in Gaza, The Voice of Hind Rajab assumes an essential and overwhelming significance. By giving body and voice to a child victim of violence and war crimes, the film transforms the screen into a space of testimony and memory. It forcefully reminds us that behind every figure is a life, a stolen childhood, and that no statistic can capture the innocence lost. By faithfully retracing Hind’s story, the film confronts the dehumanization of Palestinians and reaffirms their right to exist, dream, and be heard. Here, cinema becomes an instrument of justice and humanity, capable of amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable to the world, compelling awareness in the face of the horror unfolding in Gaza.
Neïla Driss
