Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix are among the Hollywood stars who have boarded Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza-set drama “The Voice of Hind Rajab” as executive producers ahead of the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere.
Also joining the film are “Roma” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, Rooney Mara, “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer and Pitt’s Plan B producing partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. Their support will help to boost the profile of “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which will host its premiere on the Lido on Sept. 3 before making its North American debut at Toronto Film Festival.
Written and directed by Ben Hania, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” tells the story of a 6-year-old girl named Hind Rajab who was left stranded in a car that had been attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza and was later found dead. The film uses voice recordings between Hind Rajab and the Red Crescent volunteers who got the emergency call and try to keep her on the line to get an ambulance to her.
“At the heart of this film is something very simple, and very hard to live with. I cannot accept a world where a child calls for help and no one comes. That pain, that failure, belongs to all of us. This story is not just about Gaza. It speaks to a universal grief,” the writer-director said in a statement about the film. “And I believe that fiction (especially when it draws from verified, painful, real events) is cinema’s most powerful tool. More powerful than the noise of breaking news or the forgetfulness of scrolling. Cinema can preserve a memory. Cinema can resist amnesia. May Hind Rajab’s voice be heard.”
Ben Hania’s other work include two Oscar-nominated films: “Four Daughters,” a 2023 drama about a family that’s split apart after two children leave to join Daesh fighters in Libya, and “The Man Who Sold His Skin.”
The ongoing war in Gaza is expected to be in the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday. Along with “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a pro-Palestinian demonstration planned by local activists will be held later in the week.