Hind Rajab’s phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent in January 2024 was, for director Kaouther Ben Hania, the “tipping point” in the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. As the Franco-Tunisian filmmaker releases her latest film “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, she tells us about re-creating the story of the five-year-old girl who was killed by the Israeli army following a lengthy phone call with Red Crescent staff who were working tirelessly to arrange her rescue.
Ben Hania tells us about the importance of using the original audio in this hybrid feature which draws on both documentary and fiction, the emotional toll the shoot took on her cast and crew, and the power of cinema to bring meaning to news reports that fail to capture the humanity and complexity of the stories they tell.