Venice Festival: Film on Israeli Genocide in Gaza Wins Silver Lion Prize
The harrowing docudrama about Israel’s killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl during its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip won the 2nd prize.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, by French-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, came in second on Saturday to the movie Father Mother Sister Brother by United States indie director Jim Jarmusch.
The film tells the true story of Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces last year, as she and her family tried to evacuate Gaza City.
It uses real audio from Rajab’s hours-long call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, in which rescuers tried to reassure her as she lay trapped in a bullet-ridden car with the bodies of her aunt, uncle and three cousins, who had all been killed by Israeli fire.
The girl was then also killed, as were the two ambulance workers who went to the scene to try and rescue her.
The film 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.
Ben Hania, accepting her award, said Rajab’s story was not just that of the young girl, but tragically that of “an entire people enduring genocide”.
“Cinema cannot bring Hind back, nor can it erase the atrocity committed against her. Nothing can ever restore what was taken, but cinema can preserve her voice, make it resonate across borders,” the director said.
“Her voice will continue to echo until accountability is real, until justice is served.”
The Israeli regime’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, including more than 18,000 children, cast a long shadow over this year’s festival.
Jarmusch, who won the coveted Golden Lion, signaled his opposition to Israel’s continued siege and bombardment of Gaza by wearing a badge saying “Enough” at the award ceremony.
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Earlier in the weekend, when he had unveiled Father Mother Sister Brother, the 72-year-old director acknowledged that he was concerned that one of his main distributors had taken money from a company with ties to the Israeli military.
Source: Al Jazeera
