The tragedy of a girl from Gaza shocks Venice

Special Envoy to VeniceFour days after a demonstration in support of the Palestinian people crossed the streets of the Lido, the Venice Film Festival hosted this Wednesday the premiere of The Voice of Hind Rajab, by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, which denounces the murder of six-year-old Hind Rajab at the hands of the Israeli army. The film had generated great expectations, especially due to the comments made by the Mostra's artistic director, Alberto Barbera, who, during the presentation of the program, warned of the film's dramatic force and controversial potential. This concern translated into tightened security controls at the entrances to the festival area. Thus, with a few minutes' delay, the screening of the film that has become the main contender for the Golden Lion of the Festival began.

The film, which will be released in Spain under the title Hind's Voice, offers a detailed and fictionalized account of the efforts of a Palestinian Red Crescent team to try to save the life of Hind, who was trapped in a car among the corpses of some relatives during the Israeli invasion of Gaza on January 29, 2024. But the most important element is found in the band Ben Hania uses the girl's real voice, which was recorded in the phone calls she exchanged with the Red Crescent during the hours she remained in the car, terrified by the presence of Israeli tanks. This tragic testimony, which reaches the viewer accompanied by dramatic close-ups of the actors who play the Palestinian emergency service workers, turns Voice of Hind Rajab in a terribly painful experience.

Hollywood's support

Voice of Hind Rajab has had the support of a good handful of Hollywood stars. Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara –who have attended the premiere Venetian–, Brad Pitt, Alfonso Cuarón and Jonathan Glazer are listed as executive producers of the film, an endorsement that Ben Hania considers valuable to "change things." According to the director of The four daughters, "All over the world, the narrative has taken hold that the deaths of children [in Gaza] are collateral damage, and this is terribly dehumanizing." "I think cinema, and art in general, can be important tools to give these people a voice and hope," he said.

At the start of the Venice press conference for Voice of Hind RajabActress Saja Kilani took the floor to read a short manifesto. "Isn't it time to say enough about the mass murder, the hunger, the dehumanization, the destruction, and the unemployment that is taking place?" Kilani began, asserting that the film "does not express an opinion and is not a fantasy, but is rooted in truth." The actress then defined the story of the Hind Rajab as that of "a little girl who cried out, 'Help me!'" She added: "But the real question is: how could we have let a little girl pray for her life? No one should be able to live in peace when a single child must beg for their survival." The manifesto ends with a wish: "Let the voice of Hind be heard around the world, let it remind you of the silence that has been built around Gaza. Let it speak to you of the genocide that silence protects. And let it say 'enough.'"

Dante's memory

The other controversy of the day in Venice was marked by the absence of actors Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler on the red carpet of the film In the Hand of Dante, in which Julian Schnabel adapts the eponymous novel by American journalist Nick Tosches, centered on the discovery of a manuscript of The Divine ComedyThe absence of Gadot and Butler – who have expressed their support for the Israeli government in the past – has been interpreted as the result of protests by the group Artists 4 Palestine, which called on the festival to cancel invitations to these performers and "any artist and celebrity who publicly and actively defends them." Schnabel has expressed his opposition to boycotts against any artist: "I selected these actors for their artistic merits and they have done an extraordinary job in the film, and that's it. It's better to talk about the film than about this issue." But the truth is that In the Hand of Dante, starring Oscar Isaac, is a disappointing film that attempts to establish a relationship between Dante's imagination and the contemporary world, but ends up trapped in its own temporal labyrinth.