The Voice of Hind Rajab in Venice 2025: “It is the story of a little girl who shouts” save me “in Gaza. But how could we let a child implore for his own life? “

**The Voice of Hind Rajab ** is the most powerful, intimate and necessary film of the Venice Festival 2025. Why It is not just a film, but it is a political and human act. Signed by the Tunisian director Kouther Ben Hania, in official competition and then distributed in the room by I Wonder Pictures, reconstructs the last, desperate call of small Hind Rajab, Six years, he was trapped on January 29, 2024 in the north of Gaza in a car hit by the shots of the Israeli army, together with the uncles and four cousins. There is no rhetoric or pornography of pain, but only the strength of reality. Hind, hidden under a seat and the only survivor, has succeeded thanks to the intervention of an uncle to ask the red crescent for help. The Palestinian volunteers tried to reassure her and send an ambulance, but both the rescue vehicle and the girl were affected before reaching their destination. Eight minutes would have been enough to reach it. But between permits, authorizations, green light that never came, the hours have become eight. And it wasn’t enough. The heart of the film It is the real voice of the girl.

At the Lido to start the press conference was the actress Saja Kilaniwith a read appeal on behalf of the whole team. A text that froze the room and that was welcomed by a long and moved applause: «On behalf of the whole team, we ask: isn’t it enough? Enough with mass killings, hunger, inhumanization, destruction, current employment. Hind Rajab’s voice does not need our defense. This film is not an opinion or a imagination. He is anchored to the truth. Hind’s story brings the weight of an entire people. His voice is one of the tens of thousands of children killed in Gaza only in the last two years. It is the voice of every daughter and of every child, with the right to live, to dream, to exist with dignity, but all this was stolen from them in front of the eyes of those who have not beaten an eyelid ».

And again: «And these are only the rumors we know. Behind each issue there is a story that has never been told. Hind’s story is that of a girl who shouts: “Save me”. And the real question is: how could we let a child implore for his own life? Nobody can live in peace while even one child is forced to beg to survive. We let Hind Rajab’s voice resonate all over the world. We let us remember the silence that has been built around Gaza. We let it give a name to the genocide that silence protects. And let’s let it pierce the word “enough”. Not tomorrow. Not one day. Now.
For justice. For the good of humanity. For the future of each child. Enough”.

The Tunisian director Kouther Ben Hania, already named in the Oscar, told the urgency to transform that recording into a film: «I think the news is thus focused on the amnesia that we should instead remember. Cinema can return that precious feeling that we are missing so much: empathy. To understand, to see the world from a point of view that is often canceled, which is the Palestinian one. In particular in this film, the heroes are the volunteers of the red crescent who try to save human lives and are faced huge obstacles.

When I heard Hind Rajab’s voice for the first time, there was something more than his voice. It was the very voice of Gaza who asked for help, and nobody could enter to save her. For me it was a very strong desire, accompanied by anger and helplessness. It is from there that the film was born, surrounded by wonderful people, with the support of the mother of Hind, her family and the workers of the red crescent, who are the real heroes of this story ». Then he added: «The media tell us that those who die in Gaza is collateral damage. It is dehumanizing. For this reason, cinema, art, every form of expression is fundamental: to give voice and face to those people ». And, responding to those who asked if the film could give symbolic justice: «I hope that one day justice is not only symbolic. But even if everything stopped today, it wouldn’t be enough. Too much has already been lost. The word “enough” is not enough, but it is the only one we can pronounce ».

The actors reiterated the same urgency. Motaz Malhees, Jenin Palestinian: «When I was ten, I lived this life. Hearing Hind’s voice brought me back to childhood. I felt like I died a thousand times. It was not acting. It was my life. Twice during filming I had panic attacks. I could not continue, but I received everyone’s support. It was difficult, but also a duty. If we do not do this job, who can do it? ». Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury and Amer Hlehel They underlined: «It was not a film for us, it was an obligation. We have not created characters: We talked to the real paramedics, we confronted those who were there. There was no room for the interpretation, just for the truth. When we listened to his voice, his real voice, there was no acting. We were human beings who reacted to that request for help ».

Ben Hania also told the production difficulties: «The main challenge was to turn quickly. We were preparing the assembly of another film, but when I heard the recording we could no longer deal with anything else. We had to turn immediately. Some told us that it was too much, that we went fast, but it was necessary. We started with very few partners and only afterwards did others be added. We never stopped because we felt there was no time to waste. ” Today among the producers there are Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Alfonso Cuaron and the Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer.

There are those who already indicate it how The possible gold lion. But, beyond the predictions, it remains above all a cry of complaint that comes from Gaza and that the world can no longer afford to ignore.