The Voice of Hind Rajab

Development

In May 2025, it was announced Kaouther Ben Hania had directed an untitled film about the killing of Hind Rajab, with principal photography concluding in Tunisia. Nadim Cheikhrouha, Odessa Rae and James Wilson serve as producers.^[9][10] Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer, Alfonso Cuarón, Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Jon Kilik, Jemima Khan, Frank Giustra, Guillaume Rambourg, Elizabeth Woodward, Sarah Rambourg, and Sabine Getty are among the executive producers.^{[11][2][12][13]}

The film is a co-production between Tunisia and France.^[14][15]

I was in the middle of the Oscar campaign for Four Daughters, and mentally preparing to finally enter pre-production on a film I had been writing for ten years. Then, during a layover at LAX, everything shifted. I heard an audio recording of Hind Rajab begging for help. By then, her voice had already spread across the internet. I contacted the Red Crescent and asked them to let me hear the full audio. It was about 70 minutes long, and harrowing. After listening to it, I knew, without a doubt, that I had to drop everything else. I had to make this film. I spoke at length with Hind's mother, with the real people who were on the other end of that call, those who tried to help her.

Filming

Filming took place in Tunisia over three weeks in November 2024.^[16][17]

The Voice of Hind Rajab was one of three films about Hind Rajab that were shot around the same time in 2024 and released in 2025.^[18][19] The Dutch short film Close Your Eyes Hind (2025) was shot in December 2024 and released in June 2025,^[20][21] and the Jordanian short film Hind Under Siege (2025) was shot in December 2024^[22][23] and released in October 2025.^[24]

Critical response

The film received a 23-minute, 50-second standing ovation at its Venice premiere, beating the previous record for longest recorded applause at a film festival; Pan's Labyrinth had received a 22-minute standing ovation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.^[38]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 132 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Incorporating real-life elements that are as difficult to witness as they are impossible to forget, The Voice of Hind Rajab is a harrowing docudrama that makes a powerful appeal to humanity."^[39] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 81 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[40]

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com said of the film, "I'm always a little conflicted when a tragedy involving a child is used in filmmaking, but I also believe that true action sometimes requires being confronted with visions of true horror instead of just reading or hearing about them. The Voice of Hind Rajab is the confrontation its victim deserves."^[41] Slate's Sam Adams wrote, "Ben Hania periodically reminds the audience just how faithful the re-creation they're watching is. She fills the screen with the audio waveform of Rajab's voice, the digital file name stamped in the corner, and occasionally allows the voices of the real dispatchers the actors are playing to overlap with their dialogue. The movie keeps reminding us how close we are to what actually happened, climaxing with a shot that blends real video and the actors' reenactment. But the heart of the conflict, like Rajab herself, is impossible to reach."^[42] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4/5 stars, writing, "there is a reckless, ruthless kind of provocative brilliance in what Ben Hania is doing. Is it in bad taste? Problematic? Well, in a world where directors busy themselves and us with made-up stories about made-up people, Ben Hania is at least grabbing one of the most relevant issues of our time with both hands and finding a way to thrust it under our noses."^[43]

Accolades

The film was selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards.^[44]