Oscar Film: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It – Oscar Film: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guest: Kauther Ben Hania (Director, "The Voice of Hind Rajab")
Air Date: March 13, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode of "All Of It" features a powerful and intimate conversation with director Kauther Ben Hania about her Oscar-nominated film "The Voice of Hind Rajab." The film explores the true story of a six-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, who was trapped and alone in a car under fire in Gaza City, connected to the outside world only through a heartbreaking phone call with Red Crescent emergency workers. Incorporating actual audio from that call, Ben Hania crafts a unique blend of fact and dramatization, immersing the audience in both the tension and tragedy of real events. The discussion delves into the genesis of the film, its difficult ethical choices, the collaboration with Hind's family and the real-life Red Crescent workers, and the impact of bearing witness to such a story.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Inspiration: Hearing Hind's Voice

[01:18 – 02:50]

• Kauther Ben Hania recounts hearing Hind’s voice on social media while in Los Angeles:
  • "I was glued to the news following what was happening in Gaza… I heard the voice of Hind Rajab… It haunted me. I couldn't unhear it." [01:30]
• She felt "helpless" but compelled to act through the medium she knows—film.
  • "I couldn't do or think about any other thing than this little girl pleading for her life, surrounded by the dead body of her family and asking to be saved." [02:05]
• She put another fully funded movie on pause to focus on Hind’s story.

2. Gaining Family Consent and Building a Relationship

[02:52 – 04:51]

• Ben Hania insisted on getting Hind's mother's blessing before moving forward.
  • "I have no legitimacy if the family don't want to." [03:09]
• Hind's mother communicated both her personal pain and her wish for justice:
  • "My daughter is not the only child in Gaza... if this movie can help in a way, to bring some accountability in this horrible world, please do it." [03:35]
• Their relationship blossomed into mutual support, culminating in a deeply emotional in-person meeting after Hind's mother was safely evacuated from Gaza.

3. Blending Fact and Fiction: The Cinematic Language of Empathy

[04:51 – 08:03]

• The film is a unique hybrid: actors play the Red Crescent workers, but Hind’s real voice is used.
• The investigation had already revealed the facts (e.g., weapon identification, timelines), so Ben Hania saw the cinematic mission as building "empathy" instead of providing more exposition:
  • "What cinema can bring, you know, more than proof...cinema can bring empathy, can bring emotion." [05:35]
• The film follows the Red Crescent dispatchers facing a moral dilemma—unable to risk their own lives without Israeli military approval, while Hind pleads for help:
  • "Their job is to save lives… they are working in impossible situation, being faced with moral dilemma imposed by the Israeli army." [05:49]
• Ultimately, the rescue mission failed, a tragedy captured in real-time audio:
  • "We hear the bomb. They were bombed, killed, and then the phone was cut with Hind." [07:50]

4. The Power of the Real: Connecting Audience To Reality

[08:03 – 09:44]

• One of the film’s striking stylistic choices is the reveal of real Red Crescent workers, shifting from dramatization to documentary mode:
  • "I have to tell the audience this is real. And let's go to archival documentary mode." [08:40]
• The need to anchor the story in truth was both emotional and ethical in response to the horror of the moment.

5. Ethical Storytelling: Working From a Distance

[09:44 – 11:30]

• Most of the film is set inside the Red Crescent Center, built on a Tunisian set.
• Ben Hania refused to recreate scenes featuring Hind directly, instead keeping the focus on the dispatchers as a mark of respect:
  • "For me, it was out of question to do the mise en scene of this little child in the car… I needed to honor her voice." [10:05]
• The film is constructed at a "respectful distance," paralleling the experience of audiences helplessly watching the Gaza crisis unfold on media:
  • "Their position... resembles our position around the world… we have our hands tied." [10:40]
• The film eschews graphic imagery and relies on the emotional intensity of the actors’ reactions and Hind’s voice.

6. Connecting Real and Fictional Counterparts

[11:30 – 12:34]

• Actors met with the real Red Crescent workers to prepare:
  • "For them, it was a responsibility... They needed to talk to the real people, to ask them questions, to depict them in a very accurate way." [11:47]
• Ben Hania emphasized the actors as "vessels for the real person," reinforcing authenticity.

7. Audience Response and Impact

[12:34 – 13:59]

• Ben Hania acknowledges that some viewers are apprehensive but encourages them:
  • "You have to bear witness… If it's really too hard, do something about it, it's better than hiding." [12:56]
• She recounts how viewers often feel grateful for having witnessed something profound and life-changing:
  • "When people tell me 'this movie changed me'… this is... very, very flattering as a filmmaker." [13:43]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the lasting impact of Hind’s voice:
  "I couldn't unhear it… I was about to start another movie which was written, financed and I stopped everything." — Kauther Ben Hania [01:30]
• Hind’s mother on Gazan children:
  “My daughter is not the only child in Gaza. Every day there is Hind Rajabs... I want justice for my daughter.” — Kauther Ben Hania quoting Hind's mother [03:35]
• On the film’s mission:
  "Cinema can bring empathy, can bring emotion... let's not stop explaining and let's live the life of those, those Red Crescent employees." — Kauther Ben Hania [05:35]
• Regarding ethical filmmaking:
  “For me it was out of question to do the mise en scène of this little child in the car… I needed to honor her voice.” — Kauther Ben Hania [10:05]
• To viewers hesitant to watch:
  “You have to bear witness… it’s not your life, thanks God, you are privileged. You have to bear witness.” — Kauther Ben Hania [12:56]
• On the film’s emotional impact:
  “When people tell me this movie changed me. And this is… very, very flattering as a filmmaker.” — Kauther Ben Hania [13:43]

---

Important Timestamps

• 01:18: Ben Hania hears Hind's voice for the first time; the genesis of the film
• 03:09: Ben Hania receives Hind’s mother’s blessing
• 05:28: Discussion of blending fact and dramatization
• 07:50: Describes the final moments and tragic outcome of the rescue call
• 08:40: Choice to reveal real Red Crescent workers; shift to reality
• 10:05: Maintaining ethical distance in the storytelling
• 11:47: Process of actors connecting with their real-life counterparts
• 12:56: Ben Hania’s plea for audiences to bear witness
• 13:43: The film's transformative effect on viewers

---

Tone & Language

Kauther Ben Hania speaks with compassionate urgency and ethical clarity, expressing both the deeply personal and meaningfully political dimensions of telling Hind Rajab’s story. She moves fluidly between empathy, admiration for humanitarian workers, and a plea for audience engagement—inviting listeners into both the experience and the responsibility of bearing witness.

---

Summary Takeaway

This episode provides a moving exploration of how art can engage with real-life tragedy, striving for justice, empathy, and dignity. Ben Hania’s commitment to authenticity, her refusal to indulge in spectacle or exploitation, and her powerful collaboration with both real subjects and actors yield a film—and a conversation—that demands to be witnessed and reflected upon.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

Foreign.

[WNYC Host]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Thank you for joining us for part of your day. We'll continue now with another conversation about an Oscar nominated film. The Voice of Hind Rajab. It takes an innovative look at the true story of a six year old girl in Gaza City. She was in a car with her relatives when they were shot at by Israeli forces occupying the area. Hind was the only one in the car left alive. She was alone except for the voices of Red Crescent emergency workers who stayed with her on the phone as she pleaded for help and they tried to find a way to rescue her. Now those workers in the film are played by actors, but the voice of the little girl on the other end of the line is the real recording of hindsight. The film has been nominated for best international feature film at this year's Academy Awards. And when director Kauther Ben Hanya, who had previously been on our show to talk about another of her films, four Daughters. But when she joined us to talk about the voice of Henry Job, I started by asking her about the first time she heard that six year old's voice.

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

Actually, it was not long time after the event. I was with four daughters doing the Oscar campaign and I was at the airport in Los Angeles and I was glued to the news following what was happening in Gaza and thinking about what kind of story I can tell when the unthinkable is happening in reality, you know. So it was in this position of despair and I heard the voice of Hindrajab. It was a small extract on Internet, on social media as you said, and it haunted me. I couldn't unhear it. I was about to start another movie which was written, financed and I stopped everything because I couldn't do or think about any other thing than this little girl pleading for her life, surrounded by the dead body of her family and asking to be saved. So I, you know, when I had this strong feeling of helplessness and I hate it when I feel helpless, you know. So I asked myself, what can I do? I couldn't save her, but I can do movies. So from there started the idea to do this movie.

[WNYC Host]

I know you were able to speak

[Alison Stewart]

with Hin's mother about making this film and you wanted her to agree before you moved forward.

[WNYC Host]

What did she want you to know about her child?

[Alison Stewart]

What does she want to know about the film? Before she said yes,

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

you know, at the time, yes, it was the first step because I have no legitimacy if the family don't want to, you know. So it was the first step. I called her mother. At the time, she was still in Gaza in a very horrible situation. She was mourning, but at the same time moving from one house to another. But she's, for me at least, we became very close now since the first call, the representation of resilience. You know, she's a very courageous, strong woman. And she told me, my daughter is not the only child in Gaza. Every day there is Hindra jobs, you know, ongoing. And I want justice for my daughter. So if this movie can help in a way, you know, to bring some accountability in this horrible world, please do it. And from there, you know, having her words in my mind, I started working on this movie and we kept in touch. And I'm very happy that, you know, she was evacuate. Evacuated from Gaza finally. It was a long process, but we succeeded. And now she's in a safe place. And we met actually physically. It was a very, very moving encounter because we met, me, my actors and the real Red Crescent person, the far, real hero and Hind's mother. We met in a film festival around the movie. And it was very, very moving moment.

[WNYC Host 2]

I'm sure it was. My guest is director Kauther Ben Hanya. We're discussing her film, the Voice of Hindrab, which uses actors and the real voice recordings to tell the story of the Crescent workers who to rescue a little girl from Gaza City. The film is so interesting to watch because it's sort of narrative nonfiction. It's a real story with fictionalized parts, but the audio from Hind is real. Why did you think that blend of fact and dramatization of events fit this story? Why was it the way to tell this story?

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

You know, this story was so was investigated. The proof are there. You know, the forensic architect did a great job identifying which weapon, which Israeli tank was firing at this family with the satellite image, analyzing the sound. The Washington Post did a great piece of investigation about this story. So I was thinking what cinema can bring, you know, more than proof, more than explaining, you know, what happened. And I thought that cinema, and that's why I love cinema, can bring empathy, can bring emotion, you know, let's not, you know, stop explaining and let's live the life of those, those Red Crescent employees. Their job is to save lives, which is a very noble thing, you know, and they are working in impossible situation, being faced with moral dilemma imposed by the Israeli army because they can't send an ambul. The ambulance in this story is eight minutes away from this little girl. And they couldn't send it because they risk the life of their aid worker. If they go there to save this girl, they will be bombarded by the Israeli army. And they needed to have the approval of the Israeli army. And this is why this call was so long, because Hind was on the phone telling them, come and get me. But they can't because their colleague can be killed. So it took them all this time to do a coordination operation through intermediary with the Israeli army. So the Israeli army don't bomb, give them a green light and don't bomb their ambulance. And at the end, there is no spoiler in this movie because it's. It's a known story. When they got the approval from the Israeli army, they sent the ambulance. And this is in the recording, actually, we have the voice of Zainu Yousef Zainu, who's one of the two paramedics sent to save Hind. He sees the car, you know, his meter away and he says, there she is. And we hear the bomb. They were bombed, killed, and then the phone was cut with hint. And then they spent 12 days under and nobody had news, you know, from. From them.

[WNYC Host 2]

Yeah. At one point in the film, towards the end of the film, you show the real Red Crescent members on cell

[Alison Stewart]

phones and you blur the actors in the background and it goes back and forth a little bit.

[WNYC Host]

Why did you want to make sure

[Alison Stewart]

that the audience saw the real Red Crescent workers?

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

Because what I just said, you know, when I was listening to the recording, which was the starting point of this movie, and following this coordination thing and. And finally the ambulance was sent. When I heard the explosion, how they bombed the ambulance, I told myself, this is not real, you know, which is a paradoxical sentence, because it's real.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

You know, so I was thinking, you know, my job as a filmmaker is to find the right form, you know, to those things. And I had this incredible archive filmed by the Red Crescent people at this exact moment when they heard the real person, you know, they heard the bombing of their colleague and they were like trying to understand what. What happened. And at this moment I said, I have to tell the audience this is real. And let's go to archival documentary mode. After, you know, at the end of

[Alison Stewart]

the movie, we got a very nice text that says, this is the best movie of the year. A compelling and very moving real story. Thank you to the filmmaker for bringing this tragic story to the screen for the world to see.

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

I just wanted to bring that to you.

[Alison Stewart]

Thank you. The set was created in Tunisia. It's the Red Crescent Center. That's where most action takes place within the Red Crescent Center. Why did you choose to keep all of the action in one location?

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

Because, you know, for me it was out of question to do the mise en scene of this little child in the car. You know, for me it's an ethical question. We have her voice. Her voice was alive, was strong, and I needed to honor her voice. And I wanted to shoot this movie with a respectful distance, which is from the point of view of those who listen it, you know, so it's in the offices of the Red Crescent dispatcher. And their position in a way resemble to our position around the world because we are hearing voices coming from Gaza, we are seeing in social media, but we, we have our hands tied, you know, so the position being in those offices, it's, you know, there is not a drop of blood in the movie. There is no graphic images. We are just filming people in offices. Sounds very boring like this, you know, people in offices. But when we understand what is happening to them and how they will do everything possible to save this little girl. I was personally in admiration to those people and I wanted also to pay homage to their struggle, to their work saving life. During very, very hard, hard situation.

[Alison Stewart]

You were able to connect your actors with the real life Red Crescent workers who they are playing. What did your actors hope to learn from the real Red Crescent workers?

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

Yeah, I mean, it's a paradoxical thing for an actor to play a living human being, you know, because actors are used to a character written on paper. So for them it was a responsibility. They needed to talk to the real people, to ask them question, to depict them in a very accurate way. So this connection between, you know, the actor and the actor in this movie there I. I was so lucky to find those four great, wonderful actors. They were aware that they are vessels, you know, for the real person. So the connection between them was very, very important for the movie.

[Alison Stewart]

What's been the response of people to the film? What have people said to you? Something that stuck with you?

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

Something.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah, if something that someone has said to you about the film that has really stayed with you.

[Kauther Ben Hanya]

Yeah. You know, the reception there is. There are two elements. People are afraid to go to watch the movie. Some people, you know, they, they don't, they. They don't think that, that they can take it. And I in general tell them, you have to bear witness. You know, it's not a lie, it's not your life. Thanks God, you are privileged. You have to bear witness. And if it's really too hard, do something about it, you know, it's better than hiding. And when people watch the movie, the same people afraid, you know, they are very grateful because they witnessed something very strong. And it's a human connection. This movie. You know, there is something that transcend a part in this religion because we are talking about Child. And the most significant feedback I had from audience I've been doing Q and A is when people tell me this movie changed me. And this is for me, very, very, you know, flattering as a filmmaker.

[WNYC Host]

That was my conversation with director Kauther Ben Hanya.

[WNYC Host 2]

Her latest film, the Voice of Hindrab,

[WNYC Host]

is nominated for best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

[VRBO Advertiser]

Early birds Always rise to the occasion for summer vacation planning because early gets you closer to the action. So don't be late. Book your next vacation early on VRBO and save over $120. Rise and shine average savings $141 select

[WNYC Sponsorship Announcer]

homes only Whether it's news from around the world or the latest from your neighborhood, New Yorkers engage with WNYC Studios for the information and connection they can only get from our programming. Be a part of that conversation through your business's support. Learn more at sponsorship wnyc. Org.