Film on Gaza girl Hind Rajab wins Silver Lion at Venice Film Festival, moves viewers to tears
- Last updated: September 7, 2025 | 15:47
In a move that might disappoint campaigners against the Gaza war, the Venice jury under American director Alexander Payne did not reward "The Voice of Hind Rajab" with the Golden Lion.
Instead, the film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli troops last year, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the grand jury second prize.
Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania produced a dramatised re-telling of Hind Rajab Hamada's ordeal after she was trapped in a car that came under fire while she and her relatives were fleeing Gaza City.
It was the most talked-about movie on the Venice Lido and tipped by many as the likely winner after a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Wednesday.
Hind Rajab's story "is not hers alone", Ben Hania said as she accepted her award, the Silver Lion.
"It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity," she added.
Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix and Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer ("The Zone of Interest") and Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron ("Roma") joined the film as executive producers after editing had been completed.
Veteran American director Jim Jarmusch, who clinched the top prize at the Venice Film Festival for "Father Mother Sister Brother," signalled his opposition to Israel's continued siege and bombardment of Gaza by wearing a badge saying "Enough" at the Venice awards ceremony.
Agence France-Presse