Gaza Child Death Film Receives Record 23-Minute Ovation at Venice

The film "The Voice of Hind Rajab," directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a historic standing ovation lasting nearly 24 minutes, the longest ever recorded there. The docudrama recounts the tragic final hours of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who died in Gaza in January 2024 after Israeli fire hit her family's car; the film incorporates her pleas for help captured in calls to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The emotional premiere featured prominent actors and producers, including Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Brad Pitt, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jonathan Glazer, with audience members chanting "Free Palestine" and an actor waving a Palestinian flag. The Israeli Defense Forces initially denied being within firing range, but a subsequent U.N. report attributed responsibility to Israel, while the IDF maintains the incident remains under review. The film aims to humanize the suffering in Gaza, with cast and crew expressing a sense of mission to tell Hind's story amid ongoing conflict and humanitarian crises. Since October 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza have resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, intensifying the context in which the film's story is set.