Kaouther Ben Hania is a two-time Academy Award–nominated filmmaker whose fearless, formally inventive work has positioned her as one of the most vital voices in contemporary international cinema. Moving fluidly between documentary and narrative, her films consistently challenge conventional storytelling while remaining deeply grounded in human experience.
Her latest film, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” has emerged as one of the most acclaimed films of the year. The film won the Silver Lion at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and has since received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language, along with Best of 2025 citations from The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, and The Associated Press. It has also been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature and is Tunisia’s official submission for the 2026 Oscars.
Based on devastating real events, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” reconstructs a series of emergency phone calls made on January 29, 2024, in Gaza, when Palestine Red Crescent volunteers desperately attempt to rescue five-year-old Hind Rajab, trapped inside a car under active fire. Set entirely within a call center and using the original audio recordings of Hind’s pleas—performed onscreen by Palestinian actors—the film transforms a single space into a harrowing testament to courage, urgency, and unimaginable loss. The film is executive produced by Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer, and Alfonso Cuarón, and will have a limited U.S. release beginning December 17, 2025, before expanding nationwide through Willa, the distribution arm of the film’s production partner. The film opens in Chicago on January 9, 2026, at the Siskel Film Center.
Buy tickets: https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/voice-hind-rajab
In this interview, Ben Hania discusses the emotional and ethical challenges of adapting real-world tragedy, her rigorous process of honoring lived testimony, and the responsibility of cinema to bear witness.
What drew you to this particular story—what made you want to bring this girl’s story to the screen?
When I heard her voice, the emotion I felt—I couldn’t keep it to myself. I realized that this little girl was already dead by the time I heard her voice on the internet. I arrived too late. I asked myself: what can I do? And then I realized there was something I could do. I know a little bit about cinema, so from there the idea of making this movie was born.
At the beginning, I wasn’t sure. I needed to speak with the family, especially the mother. At the same time, I started interviewing the real Red Crescent workers who spoke with her that day, to gather their testimony. I had the recording, which became the backbone of the film. Everything is in that recording—the killing of Layan’s cousin at the beginning, the entire conversation with Hind, and at the end, the killing of the rescuers themselves.
The recording was in Arabic, and I translated it into French so I could work with some distance, at least linguistically. I wrote the screenplay in French, then translated it back into Arabic once I decided to cast actors. I sent the script to the real people involved so they could give feedback. That was essentially the writing process.
One thing I love about the film is how each character feels so alive and specific. Can you talk about the casting process and how you approached bringing these real people to life?
I knew who these people were and what their temperaments were like. We were looking specifically for Palestinian actors—not only people who physically resembled them, but who also matched their temperament. For me, the actors are references to the real people. They are like vessels for them. I knew I would never fully capture them, but I wanted to get as close as possible through different lenses.
My cinematographer, Juan Sarmiento—he’s Colombian and incredible—was deeply emotionally involved in the film. This wasn’t a normal shoot where you’re in efficiency mode. Even without understanding the language, he felt everything.
From the beginning, we decided this wasn’t a film about making “beautiful shots” or focusing on traditional cinematography ideas like blocking and positions. We shot long takes, almost like a documentary. The idea was to create space for the voice—to see the impact of the voice on the actors’ faces.
At certain moments, especially to honor the real heroes of the story—the Red Crescent workers—we had scenes that were more choreographed so we could replicate what really happened. That took time to set up, but Juan is an excellent handheld camera operator, which made it possible.
We also needed to create a system where the actors could hear the voice recordings without it becoming too technical or distracting. The actors had to learn their lines word for word, exactly as spoken by the real people, in the correct order. We found a system that allowed them to react organically to the voice.
For sound design, we made a very important decision: we didn’t want to clean Hind’s voice. Normally, you clean audio to make it more audible, and with today’s technology, you can make anything sound “perfect.” But we chose not to do that.
What do you hope audiences take away from your film, especially as it comes to theaters?
First of all, I want people to bear witness. This isn’t a movie where I can say, “Enjoy it.” That’s not the point. The first thing is to watch, to bear witness—and maybe to do something afterward.
