Hollywood heavyweights, including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuaron, have joined Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab as executive producers, boosting the Gaza-set drama ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3.
The film reconstructs the final hours of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who in January 2024 called Red Crescent volunteers from inside a car riddled with bullets after Israeli forces opened fire as her family fled Gaza City.
She was later found dead.
The movie draws on the audio recordings of Hind’s desperate calls as rescuers tried to reach her.
Israel claimed it had no troops in the area at the time, but independent investigations by The Washington Post and Sky News confirmed Israeli tanks were present.
Al Jazeera mapped 335 bullet holes in the family car.
Ben Hania, whose Four Daughters was Oscar-nominated last year, said: "I cannot accept a world where a child calls for help and no one comes. Cinema can preserve a memory. Cinema can resist amnesia. May Hind Rajab’s voice be heard."
The film is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha (Mime/Tanit Films), Odessa Rae (RaeFilm Studios) and James Wilson (JW Films).
The Party Film Sales has secured distribution deals across Europe, while CAA Media Finance is handling North America.
The Venice premiere will unfold as the Gaza war dominates the festival backdrop.
Hind Rajab’s voice at Venice
The 82nd Venice Film Festival opened this week with the usual parade of Hollywood royalty, but Gaza loomed large on and off the red carpet.
Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the Lido demanding an end to Israel’s carnage, while filmmakers and artists highlighted the plight of Palestinians.
Among the most anticipated films is The Voice of Hind Rajab, which reconstructs the real-life story of a six-year-old girl killed by Israeli fire in January 2024 after pleading for help over the phone from inside a bullet-riddled car.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania said she had a "physical reaction" when she first heard Hind’s voice online, immediately dropping other projects to pursue the film.
Ben Hania deliberately avoided graphic imagery, instead focusing on "the waiting, the fear, the unbearable sound of silence when help doesn’t come."
Venice festival director Alberto Barbera said this year’s line-up reflected "a return to reality," with filmmakers confronting issues such as war, repression and the occupation of Palestine.
Voices of condemnation, high price…
Last year, a group of Hollywood actors and entertainers has urged the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) to defend members facing what they described as "McCarthyite repression" for expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
In an open letter, more than 700 members of one of Hollywood’s largest unions called on their leadership to publicly denounce Israel’s assault on Gaza and to protect members who face blacklisting in the industry over their pro-Palestinian views.
"We demand that [our leadership] speak out against the targeting and killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, health workers, and our fellow journalists … and eliminate any ambiguity about our solidarity with workers, artists, and the oppressed around the world," the letter said.
Signatories included well-known figures such as Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Susan Sarandon, Riz Ahmed, Rosie O’Donnell and Common.
Israeli soldiers have mocked American celebrities Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo by writing their names on artillery shells used in the bombardment of Gaza, in response to the stars’ vocal support for Palestinians.
Images that circulated online Monday showed 155mm shells with the names of the Grammy Award-winning singer and Hollywood actor scrawled in marker, alongside the taunt: "You can go to Gaza."
The act comes as both celebrities have been outspoken in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and greater humanitarian access to the enclave, where Israel has killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
