The Voice Of Hind Rajab

Source: Venice Film Festival

‘The Voice Of Hind Rajab’

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice Of Hind Rajab will open the inaugural Doha Film Festival in November 2025.

The film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize on its debut at Venice Film Festival earlier this month. It drew emotional reactions at both its first press screening and subsequent world premiere, where Ben Hania and cast received an extended standing ovation.

A retelling of a real-life event from January 2024, The Voice Of Hind Rajab depicts the efforts of the Palestinian Red Crescent aid workers to save Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza who was killed by Israeli forces during the ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The film uses the audio of Rajab’s calls to the Red Crescent over several hours, as they attempted to facilitate her rescue.

“To open our festival with The Voice Of Hind Rajab is to honour truth — fragile, heartbreaking, and urgent,” said Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Doha Film Festival director and CEO of parent company the Doha Film Institute (DFI). “This powerful film demonstrates cinema’s unique role in amplifying voices that matter, reflecting the pain and courage of the Palestinian people, and the extraordinary efforts of the unsung heroes who tried to save an innocent child.”

The film was co-financed by the DFI through its grants programme.

International stars including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuaron and Jonathan Glazer boarded the film as executive producers in the days before its Venice launch. It has also been selected as Tunisia’s entry to the international feature award at the 2026 Oscars.

The film had its international premiere at Toronto four days after its Venice launch. It will play at Busan on Friday, before festival slots at San Sebastian, Zurich, BFI London Film Festival and Chicago.

France’s The Party Film Sales handles international sales, with CAA Media Finance representing North America.

The first Doha Film Festival will take place from November 20-28 at locations across Doha, Qatar. The full programme will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

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