EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, about one of the most controversial incidents of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, has sold to a raft of key territories ahead of premieres in Venice and Toronto.
Paris-based sales company The Party Film Sales has unveiled deals to Benelux (Cineart), Italy (I Wonder), Spain (La Zona, Caramel), Japan (New Select), Poland (New Horizons in association with Gutek), Portugal (Nitrato), Thailand (Sahamongkol), Turkey (Bir Film), Baltics States (Kino Pavasaris), Ex-Yugoslavia (Kino Mediteran), Greece (Cinobo) and Hong Kong (Golden Scene).
The Party Film Sales sister company Jour2Fête, which has already distributed three of Ben Hania’s films, has French rights.
CAA Media Finance represents the film for North America.
The feature will world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival on September 3, and then head to the Toronto International Film Festival for its North American debut.
The drama reconstructs the events surrounding the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab, her four cousins, her aunt and uncle, and the two paramedics who came to her rescue, after their car came under fire as they tried to flee Gaza City in January, 2024.
The killings took place some three months into Israel’s ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 terror attacks, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 61,000 people living in the Palestinian territory.
Israel claimed it did not have troops in the area where Hind and her family were killed but investigations by The Washington Post and Sky News using satellite imagery have concluded that Israeli tanks were present at the time.
The film’s official synopsis reads: “January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A six-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.”
The Party Film Sales, which specializes in both fiction and documentary projects, has built a reputation for handling bold, thought-provoking films. The company’s strategy involves tailoring release campaigns to ensure each project reaches its audience in the most impactful way.
“We’re extremely grateful for the immense support all distributors’ already on board have showed. It’s a long journey forward, and we will need all possible strengths,” said co-heads Samuel Blanc and Estelle de Araujo.
Ben Hania is one of Tunisia’s most internationally renowned directors. Her last film Four Daughters, was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2024 Academy Awards, having been presented in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Golden Eye award.
Her previous film The Man Who Sold His Skin was also nominated at the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film in 2021, representing Tunisia.
The Voice of Hind Rajab is Ben Hania’s fifth film. She begun work on the drama while on the Oscar trail with Four Daughters and pre-production for another film in early 2024.
“During a layover at LAX, everything shifted. I heard an audio recording of Hind Rajab begging for help. By then, her voice had already spread across the internet,” Ben Hania recounted in a statement released after the announcement of the upcoming premiere in Venice.
“I immediately felt a mix of helplessness, and an overwhelming sadness. A physical reaction, like the ground shifted under me. I couldn’t carry on as planned. I contacted the Red Crescent and asked them to let me hear the full audio. It was about 70 minutes long, and harrowing. After listening to it, I knew, without a doubt, that I had to drop everything else. I had to make this film.”
Ben Hania spoke at length with Hind’s mother as well as the people who were on the other end of that call and those who tried to help her. The resulting film weaves a story around their testimonies and the real audio recording of Hind’s voice.
It was shot in Tunisia with a single-location where the violence remains off-screen.
“That was a deliberate choice. Because violent images are everywhere on our screens, our timelines, our phones,” said Ben Hania. “What I wanted was to focus on the invisible: the waiting, the fear, the unbearable sound of silence when help doesn’t come. Sometimes, what you don’t see is more devastating than what you do.”
“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. 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.”
The film is lead produced by Ben Hania’s long-time producer Nadim Cheikhrouha under his Mime Films and Tanit Films banners.
Additional producers are Odessa Rae at New York-based RaeFilm Studios and James Wilson at London-based Jw Films Production.
The cast features Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees Clara Khoury and Amer Hlehel.
Director of Photography is Juan Sarmiento G. (Madame Luna, Amparo) and editors are Qutaiba Barhamji, Maxime Mathis and Ben Hania. Sound is by Amal Attia, Elias Boughedir, Gwennolé LeBorgne, Marion Papinot and Lars Ginzel.
Production design is by Bassem Marzouk, and costume design by Khadija Zeggai. First assistant director is Marie Fischer. Cesar Award-winning composer Amine Bouhafa (Timbuktu, Four Daughters) wrote the music.
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