Gaza’s story of survival under fire reached a global audience this week, as The Voice of Hind Rajab earned an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature. The film, which reconstructs the harrowing final phone calls of six-year-old Hind rajab and the red Crescent workers attempting to rescue her in january 2024, captivated audiences with its raw emotional power.
A Dispatcher’s Burden, A Child’s Plea
The Voice of Hind Rajab isn’t simply a film; it’s a visceral experience, placing viewers inside a Red Crescent call center as a dispatcher desperately tries to guide a terrified child trapped in a car amidst intense fighting. The film, directed by two-time Oscar nominee Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin and Four Daughters), earned a remarkable 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Lion grand Jury Prize before its Oscar nod.
- The film recreates the real-life emergency call made by Hind Rajab, a child trapped in Gaza in January 2024.
- Saja Kilani delivers a powerful performance as Rana hassan Faqih, the Red Crescent dispatcher on the line with Hind.
- Director Kaouther Ben hania prioritized ethical storytelling, choosing not to reenact Hind’s voice directly.
- The film highlights the humanity amidst conflict and the importance of bearing witness.
Saja Kilani, in her international film debut, portrays Rana Hassan Faqih, the dispatcher who becomes hind’s lifeline. Kilani’s performance is not about imitation, but about listening, witnessing, and remembering-a testament to Ben Hania’s direction and the weight of the story itself. “It’s the biggest honor to be part of amplifying
the technical precision of the set design mirrored the reality of a Red Crescent call center, from the posture of the operators to the urgency of every second. “in rehearsals, that was our focus,” Kilani explained. “We ended up choreographing what technically needed to happen…Then the day of the shoot, we were able to really focus on the emotional side of it.”
One moment in the call notably resonated with Kilani: when Hind says, “I’m dying.” “As an observer, as someone who knows what happened to her, hearing that in the recording was quite challenging,” she admitted, noting Hind’s heartbreaking awareness of her fate.
A Legacy of Remembrance
The film’s impact extends beyond the screen. Hind Rajab’s mother recently expressed gratitude that the film prevents her daughter from being “lost in the news, behind all these numbers.” Kilani echoed this sentiment,stating that Hind represents not only her own story but also the countless others affected by conflict. “Kaouther actually saeid a specific quote, she said that ‘cinema preserves a memory,’ and that’s exactly what happened here,” kilani said.
Kilani praised Ben Hania’s ethical approach to storytelling, particularly her decision not to reenact Hind’s voice.”I’m grateful that Kaouther chose the most ethical way to approach this,” she said. “She felt like she had become a witness and she really wanted to do something about it.”
The Voice of Hind Rajab is a powerful reminder of our shared humanity and the importance of listening to stories that might otherwise be silenced.Kilani hopes audiences will share the film and spark conversations about the realities of conflict and the need for empathy.
