The Voice of Hind Rajab represents the third Oscar nomination for filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, but for her it has the most importance of all, with real urgency in bringing the voice of a little girl bravely facing imminent danger as Israeli defense forces surround her car with guns blazing during the invasion of Gaza.
The film, as unique as any made in years, blends the actual voice on the phone of the only survivor in the car, 6-year-old Hind Rajab, with actors on the other end, re-creating the desperate attempts of the Red Crescent to locate and send an ambulance to rescue her after all the others with her have been killed. It is absolutely devastating to watch as we hear Hind’s actual voice and words play out in audio and watch as the actors, with actual transcripts of what happened, build the intensity of the situation to heartbreaking levels.
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When it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, the film received a stunning 23-minute standing ovation that had to be eventually stopped so they could get the audience out and start the next film. It went on to win the Silver Lion, and the film entered by Tunisia has now been nominated for the International Feature Oscar.
Ben Hania joins me for this edition of my Deadline video series Behind the Lens to talk about her decision to bring this story to the world, using the power of cinema blended with the actual audio recording of Hind Rajab to make the maximum impact. “I want this little girl’s voice to echo around the world,” she tells me, and with the Oscar nomination it is becoming apparent she is reaching her goal, even though gaining distribution for the movie was not easy due to the controversy surrounding the war in Gaza. Fortunately, the film has found its way into theaters and continues to make its mark.
She has been nominated twice before for Oscars: once for the narrative film The Man Who Sold His Skin and once for the documentary Four Daughters. Ben Hania uses both disciplines to bring The Voice of Hind Rajab to the screen in the only Arab film nominated this year, and the only international film nominee directed by a woman. She now has the most Oscar-nominated projects of any Arab female filmmaker.
Ben Hania talks about all the logistics of getting this made, her conversations with Hind Rajab’s mother in getting permission to do it with the recordings of her daughter (who was eventually killed before rescuers could get to her), and how she re-created the scenes with Red Crescent to blend seamlessly into the actual recordings. She also talks about getting the support of other filmmakers around the world including executive producers Brad Pitt, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuarón.
To watch our conversation and go “behind the lens” with Kaouther Ben Hania, watch the video above.