Tunisian director Kawthar Ben Hania said that the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which opened the Doha Film Festival, is not just an explanation of the reasons for the girl’s martyrdom; Rather, it is a means of establishing work capable of influencing so that “people do not forget the voice of the murdered Palestinian girl,” considering that “there is no stronger mechanism than the cinematic image in creating this sympathy, because the challenge is not to explain what happened, but rather to leave an indelible impact.”
On Friday morning, during a meeting with journalists organized as part of the Doha Film Festival, Ben Hania defended her choice to build the story exclusively from within the Palestinian Red Crescent operations room, and said: “I could tell it from the perspective of Hind, or her mother, or even the tank; but I chose one space, because it was the most honest framework for what happened. The story was there, as reality exceeded imagination.”
The film actor, who will soon be traveling to the International Film Festival in Marrakesh, touched on the reasons for investing in the real recording of Hend’s distress call instead of reenacting it: “That would have been a weak embodiment of the story. Hend’s voice is alive, and it is the beating heart of the film. When I heard it for the first time, I felt as if she was speaking to me, so her voice became the main pillar of the material that we worked on.”
The Tunisian director said that, in February 2024, she was busy with the Oscar campaign related to her film “Daughters of Olfa,” adding: “At that time, I was about to start working on a new film, but at the same time I was following the current news in Gaza, and asking myself questions about the meaning and feasibility of doing art: What is the meaning of writing stories and making films in a time of genocide? There was an almost absence of meaning.”
Kawthar Bin Haniyeh continued, narrating: “I remained like this until the day came when I heard the voice of the child Hind Rajab. For a moment, not exceeding one second, I felt that she was asking me for help. It was a completely irrational feeling, because she was addressing the volunteers with the Red Crescent. However, her voice stuck in my mind. It remained strong, and it was impossible for me to forget it, get past it, or move on to something else.”
The director of “Daughters of Olfa” added that she “later learned that the full recording of the call was preserved by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.”
The same spokeswoman added: “I contacted the association, and they were understanding from the beginning. I asked to listen to the entire recording, even though listening to it was one of the most difficult things I have ever heard in my entire life.”
She added: “This recording formed the backbone of the film,” noting that her most important concern was trying to understand what she described as a “puzzle,” saying: “How can an ambulance that is minutes away from a child calling for help be unable to be sent or that dispatching it becomes an extremely difficult task? And when it is sent, what happened happens.”
Ben Hania also indicated that she thought about all the possible possibilities for making the film: “I thought about presenting a purely documentary film. Everything was on the table. But I was looking for how to return to that same moment. The documentary talks about an event that occurred in the past, and this form was possible; however, it does not have the impact of the moment itself. How do we return to it?”
She stressed, “The only photo I had was the one I got from the Red Crescent, and it appears in the last call. As for the rest of the moments, they were not photographed. If I wanted to return to that moment in a documentary, I only have the audio.”
The Tunisian director continued, explaining: “To bring the spectator back to that moment, and to make the feeling present to him, it was necessary to use actors who re-enact the situation.”
Kawthar Ben Hania confirmed that she was wondering all the time about the usefulness of cinema in confronting what is happening, and that she saw that there were documentary and journalistic works that provided a sufficient explanation, saying: “I felt that I did not want more explanation, but rather to reach the feeling. To let people feel, not explain to them. To enter the shoes of Red Crescent employees to understand the same feeling.”
The press conference for the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab” witnessed the presence of the film crew and the real heroes in the story of the child Hind Rajab, who was trapped inside a car under lead lava in Gaza. The film’s actors and staff from the Palestine Red Crescent, along with director Kawthar Ben Hania and the film’s producer, Nadim Sheikhou, gave their passionate opinions about the overall story and what it means to them.
The attendees tried to “remember the silence of pain experienced by millions of Palestinians every day, while tears flowed from those present while recalling the details of the incident that occurred 21 months ago.” The crew members also praised the work provided by the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Including President Younis Al-Khatib, General Director Khaled Abu Ghosh, and members Nisreen Jerys Eid, Rana Fakih, Omar Ahmed Al-Qaam, Mahdi Jamal, Muhammad Ayyad, and Nibal Farsakh.
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