Filmmaker Recreates Gaza Girl's Tragic Final Call

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania has created a powerful and unsettling film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab," which reconstructs the final moments of a 6-year-old girl trapped in a car in Gaza. Compelled by the helplessness she felt hearing the recording of Hind Rajab's call to emergency services, Ben Hania decided to pivot from her planned period project to focus on this urgent story.

Ben Hania deliberately chose to tell the story from the perspective of the Red Crescent employees, emphasizing the immediate and urgent nature of the event. She explains that a documentary approach would have felt distant, while the original recording's visceral quality was paramount. The dispatchers, in her view, represent a global audience witnessing desperate pleas for help.

Securing permission from the Red Crescent workers and Hind Rajab's family, particularly her mother, was the director's first step. This ensured the film honored the girl's memory with the family's blessing. Ben Hania reflects on the profound emotional toll of directing the reenactment, noting that even after repeated viewings, the film remains deeply affecting, hoping her voice will echo and inspire empathy.