Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara join The Voice of Hind Rajab cast on Venice red carpet

Dramatisation of final hours of Palestinian girl killed by Israeli fire makes its world premiere at film festival

From left, Saja Kilani, director Kaouther Ben Hania, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees, and producers Nadim Cheikhrouha, Odessa Rae, Jim Wilson, Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, pose with a portrait of Hind Rajab, on the red carpet for the movie The Voice of Hind Rajab at Venice Film Festival. AFP

Ben Hania holds a portrait of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who died in Gaza. AFP

Khoury and Amer Hlehel on the red carpet. Getty Images

Phoenix and Mara arrive for the screening. Reuters

Kilani, who recreated Hind's call in the film, said at the premiere that the child's 'story carries the weight of an entire people'. EPA

The cast and producers on the red carpet in Venice. Getty Images

Malhees holds up a portrait of Hind Rajab. Getty Images

The cast and crew of The Voice of Hind Rajab held up a photo of the five-year-old Palestinian girl on whom the film is based at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday.

Hind was killed in Gaza by Israeli fire in January last year, and the film by Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania dramatises her final hours as she pleads for help after being stranded in a car with her dead relatives.

Hollywood stars Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who are co-producers of the film, joined the cast and crew on the red carpet.

The actors, who wore Artists4Ceasefire badges at the premiere, are among leading Hollywood names credited as producers in the film, which is also backed by Brad Pitt's production company Plan B, Saudi giant MBC and the UK's Film4.

Other high-profile names who appear in the film's credits include producers Jemima Khan and Odessa Rae; jewellery designer Sabine Getty; Lionsgate Entertainment founder Frank Giustra; and award-winning directors Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuaron.

Phoenix and Mara also joined the film's team at a photocall earlier in the day, where the cast and crew wore badges with the word “Enough” on a keffiyeh pattern.

Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara along with the cast and crew of The Voice of Hind Rajab at the Venice Film Festival. AFP

Saja Kilani, who plays first responder Rana Faqih in the film, read out a joint statement at a press conference. Wearing a dress with a chequered black-and-white bodice resembling the pattern of the keffiyeh, Kilani said: “In the name of the entire team, we ask: Isn’t it enough? Enough of the mass killing, starvation, dehumanisation, destruction and the ongoing occupation.

“The Voice of Hind Rajab does not need our defence. This film is not an opinion or a fantasy. It is anchored in truth. Hind’s story carries the weight of an entire people. Hind’s voice is one amongst tens of thousands of children that were killed in Gaza in the last two years alone,” she said, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

“The real question is: how have we let a child beg for life?” she added. “No one can live in peace, while even one child is forced to plea for survival. Let Hind’s voice echo around the world. Let it remind you of the silence that has been built around Gaza.”

The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is competing for the top Golden Lion prize at the festival, uses real audio recordings as a central narrative thread and was shot in a single location.

Saja Kilani who plays first responder Rana Faqih in the film. Reuters

Ben Hania, whose previous film Four Daughters was nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars last year, said the idea for the new film came to her during a stopover in Los Angeles during her Oscar campaign.

“Everything shifted. I heard an audio recording of Hind Rajab begging for help. By then, her voice had already spread across the internet,” she said. “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.”

The Voice of Hind Rajab is a deeply personal story of loss, but also carries a wider resonance, she said.

“This story is not just about Gaza. It speaks to a universal grief,” she said. “Cinema can preserve a memory. Cinema can resist amnesia. May Hind Rajab’s voice be heard.”