At its premiere, a strong new Gaza movie on the Venice Film Festival sparked 23 minutes of sustained applause. But the following day hate emails flooded in, the director stated Friday.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” from French-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania is a robust contender for the pageant’s Golden Lion to be awarded Saturday.
It has already garnered the help of well-known Hollywood names connected as government producers.
Between Wednesday evening, after the movie’s premiere, and Thursday, “my producers, including the well-known American names Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix, had their mailboxes flooded with thousands and thousands” of intimidating messages, Ben Hania advised AFP.
The identical message, despatched again and again, was “super intimidating,” she added.
The movie covers the final minutes of the lifetime of a five-year-old Palestinian lady who was killed by Israeli fireplace final 12 months whereas attempting to flee Gaza together with her household. It makes use of real-life recordings of the determined phone calls she made to the Red Crescent rescue service.
Ben Hania procured the audio from the Red Crescent — with the permission of the Hind Rajab’s mom — however employed actors to painting the emergency staff who struggled to coordinate her rescue as Israeli tanks acquired ever nearer.
The director has stated the dramatisation is “very close to what they experienced”.
Ben Hania advised AFP that, after listening to about Hind Rajab’s loss of life in January 2024, she felt “a lot of anger, a lot of despair, but also a sense of ‘What can I do?'”
Cast members advised a press convention they felt it their “duty” to make the movie.
Regardless, “I didn’t make this film to keep people comfortable in their seats,” Ben Hania advised AFP.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” acquired robust opinions, with critics citing its emotionally devastating audio recordings, though some pointed to an ethical gray space of their use.
The Guardian stated that, together with her movie, Ben Hania was “grabbing one of the most relevant issues of our time with both hands and finding a way to thrust it under our noses”.
The film, which can be launched in Tunisia later this month, doesn’t but have a US distributor. Tunisia has already chosen the movie as its entry for the 2026 Academy Awards.
Next up for the movie is the Toronto International Film Festival, then festivals in London, San Sebastian and Busan.
The Venice premiere, the pageant circuit, and a possible run for the Oscars, is “very important”, Ben Hania stated.
“For a movie like this, it permits huge visibility. And I need the movie to be seen a bit of bit in all places on this planet.
© 2025 AFP