← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
'The Voice of Hind Rajab' Tells a Heartbreaking True Story in a Unique Way
00:25:21
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- [00:09]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. The Golden Globes have had its ups and downs over the past few years, but last night there was history made for the first time. There was a best Podcast category. Four big name shows plus npr. And the winner was Amy Poehler for her podcast Good Hang. Here's a little bit of her acceptance speech.
- [00:32]
B
I just want to say that I know I am new to this game. I have great respect for this form. I have great respect for all the people that I am nominated with. I am big fans of all of you except for npr. Just a bunch of celebs phoning it in. So try harder.
- [00:53]
A
We will try harder, Amy. We do promise. But we need your help to try harder. Feel free. Feel free to donate to us by going to wnyc.org and say it in honor of Amy. Other notable wins last night were Vagna Mora, who won Best Actor for his role in the film the Secret Agent, and Rose Byrne, who won for if I Had Legs, I'd Kick you. We spoke to both actors about their performances a couple of months ago. They were great conversations and I've linked them on our Instagram stories. Head to Llovenyc to check them out. Now let's get this started. Hour started with another film. This is the voice of Hind Rajab. In 2024, during so much devastation during the war in Gaza, one little girl's voice broke through. An innovative film seeks to tell that story. Hin Rajab was a six year old girl. She was in a car in Gaza City with her aunt, uncle and cousins when they were shot by Israeli forces occupying the area. Hin was the only one in the car left. Al 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 tried to find a way to rescue her. The recordings of her voice on the phone begging to be rescued were heard around the world via social media. Now Hin's voice can be heard again through a unique film that blends documentary and fiction. The Voice of Hindra Job focuses on the Red Crescent workers who worked tirelessly to try and save her. Now those workers are portrayed by actors, but the voice of the little girl on the line are the real voices. The real voice recordings of hint. The Voice of Henry Job has been shortlisted for Best International Film at the Oscars and it took home the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last year. It's now playing at Film Forum and in select theaters in New York. I'm joined now by the film's director, Kathry Beng Hanya. It's nice to meet you again. Actually, I met you during Four Daughters.
- [02:56]
C
Exactly. Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me.
- [03:00]
A
Yes. When was the first time that you heard Hin's voice?
- [03:04]
C
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 he was in this position of despair. And I heard the voice of Hendra Zhab. 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.
- [04:36]
A
I know you were able to speak.
- [04:38]
D
With Hind's mother about making this film, and you wanted her to agree before you moved forward. What did she want you to know about her child? What does she want to know about the film? Before she said, yes.
- [04:55]
C
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. So 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 evacuated, 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, which 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.
- [06:37]
A
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 attempted 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, fictionalized parts, but the audio from Hind is real. Why did you think that blend of fact and dramatization of events fit the story? Why was it the way to tell the story?
- [07:14]
C
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 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. 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. Red Crescent employee. 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 ambulance. 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 they can, their colleague can be killed, you know. So it took them all this time to do 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 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 Yusuf Zainu, who's one of the two paramedics sent to Save hand. He sees the car, you know, he's 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 siege, and nobody had news, you know, from. From them.
- [09:49]
A
Yeah. At one point in the film, towards the end of the film, you show the real Red Crescent members on cell.
- [09:59]
D
Phones and you blur the actors in the background, and it goes back and.
- [10:04]
A
Forth a little bit. Why did you want to make sure.
- [10:07]
D
That the audience saw the real Red Crescent workers?
- [10:12]
C
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 finally the ambulance was sent. When I heard the explosion, how they bombed the ambulance, I told myself the. This is not real, you know, which is a paradoxical sentence, because it's real. Yeah. You know, so I was thinking, you know, my job as a filmmaker is to find the right form, you know, to express 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. To understand what. What happened. And at this moment, I said, I have to. To tell the audience this is real. And let's go to archival documentary mode after, you know, at the end of.
- [11:14]
D
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.
- [11:30]
C
I just wanted to bring that to you.
- [11:33]
D
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?
- [11:46]
C
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 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, you.
- [13:16]
D
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?
- [13:30]
C
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 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.
- [14:19]
D
We're talking about the film the Voice of Hinrajab. I'm speaking with its director, Kauther Ben Hanya. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of it.
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E
Minnesota was already in the headlines after a MAGA YouTuber released a highly misleading video alleging widespread fraud in Somali run daycare centers.
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C
This one's also generated nearly $3 million in the past.
- [14:42]
E
And then Wednesday, an ICE agent shot an American citizen in her car. The battle for control of the narrative on this week's on the Media from wnyc. Find on the media wherever you get your podcasts.
- [15:09]
A
You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is director Kauther Ben Hanya. We are discussing her film the Voice of Hinrajab, which uses actors and real voice recordings to tell the story of the Red Crescent workers who attempted to rescue a little girl from Gaza City. We hear hin's voice, little girl's voice, and often we see waves on the screen like radio waves. How did you come upon that choice?
- [15:41]
C
You know, this movie started with the voice of this little girl, the voice of Hendra Zhaab. And at some point I wanted.
- [15:51]
A
To.
- [15:52]
C
Audience to listen because I found her voice on social media. And as you may know, social media is not a great place, you know, for remembrance, for, for grief or it's scrolling amnesia thing, you know. So at some point, even filming, you know, was too much. I needed the audience by moment to have to listen, you know, it's, you know. So that's why at some point in the movie when she's saying something that moved me beyond, beyond any, you know, strong emotion, I wanted to share it with the audience in a raw, rough way. Only the recording, only her voice, because her voice we can feel the fear, we can feel the strength also because she was, you know, commanding them, telling them, come and get me right now, you know. So for me it was very important to make room, you know, for her voice.
- [17:01]
A
I want to ask you about the few of the actors that you worked with. Rana is the Red Crescent worker who seems to have developed a sort of a special relationship with Hindu over the phone. Hin seems most comfortable talking to her.
- [17:16]
D
What did you learn from Rana about.
- [17:18]
A
That relationship that they built on the phone?
- [17:21]
C
Yeah, the real Rana, we talked a lot, you know, and she told me something that moved me, which is for those three hours she don't have children but then become her daughter, you know, in a way. And actually she became very close with Hind mother and she is the one who gave me Hind mother number. You know, they become like, like a postum. She become like a posture mother for Hind. And they make this promise because Rana lives in Jerusalem and Hind's mother at the time lives in Gaza. This promise that one day they will go together to the grave of hand to make a prayer. So yeah, Rana is professional, you know, but with this specific case, she was the mother, you know, she was the mother of this voice, I would say.
- [18:23]
D
Then there is Omar versus Mahdi. It's not versus. Both of them are trying to do their jobs. Omar is the one taking calls from people. Madi is responsible for coordinating the rescue. And their tension is a big part of the film. Omar tells Madi that, that it's because of people like him that their country is occupied in a moment of tension. How did you want to explore the conflict through these two characters?
- [18:54]
C
Yeah, I mean, both of them want the same thing to save this little girl. Omar is impatient. He wants to save this girl right now because her life in danger, which is understandable, you know, so he want to send his colleague in Gaza to save her. Mahdi, he's older and he know because he lost a lot of colleague that if they send the ambulance like this, his colleague will be killed, you know, so he needs to follow a set of Kafka and rule set by design by the Israeli occupation to make, you know, this mission quasi impossible. But he wanted to follow the rules. So we have this character who needs to follow the rule to protect his colleague and the other character who have no trust on those rules and on the Israeli army and he want to save this little girl right now. And the two positions are actually very understandable, you know. And we often say, oh, Palestinians are divided, but they are, they can be divided because they are. Are dominated by a set of rules that make them facing impossible dilemma, you know. And I wanted to show this in the movie because as I said, both of their position is understandable. And the tragedy in this story that we follow Mahdi strategy, which is being sure to follow every step and doing things by the book. So the Israeli army don't bombard his colleague and you know, receiving the green light and everything. But the Israeli army bombarded his colleague. So we are in something beyond cruelty and beyond the unthinkable. And you know, Mahji, the real Mahji, there is a scene in the movie to explain to Omar why he don't want to send his colleague. He showed the photo of the other, you know, killed colleague by the Israeli army and he said, if there is a new photo added in this to this wall, I resign. And this is what he did actually after.
- [21:18]
D
Really?
- [21:19]
C
Yes, after the killing of his colleague. Because, you know, his job mainly is to send people to rescue people, you know, but by doing this, the people he's sending, taking the responsibility, you know, to send them, are killed by the Israeli army. So it's an impossible job, you know.
- [21:41]
D
Much of the film involves tight close ups on your characters faces. Why did you want to spend so much time so close on their face, whether they're talking or not?
- [21:55]
C
Yeah, I love, you know, in cinema, I love close up. I love close up done by Bergman. I can tell you how many filmmaker I admire for doing close up because I think that we all know that the human face is something very strong, you know, in terms of it's a mirror for the heart, for the emotion. So with my gop, Juan Sarmiento, he's from Colombia and he's a great gp. We decided to do handheld camera to be very close to the emotion of the actors because they weren't performing actually the actors were hearing the voice of Hendra Zhaob for the first time on the shoot. So their reaction are not like acting or performance. And I knew because their reaction are genuine and true, I couldn't ask them to do second take and to do it that way it would be, you know, know, not. Not the right place to. To work like this in this movie. So we decided to be close to them to capture their raw emotion. And it gave this movie this closeness and this style.
- [23:15]
D
You know, as one character points out in your film, there have been so many stories and pictures of children dying during the war in Gaza. Why do you think the story of Hindra Job broke through?
- [23:31]
C
Because it was recorded. You know, Hind mother told me, imagine you see the pain of the story of Hind. Imagine all the voices of the children who were killed without being recorded or captured, you know, and multiply this. We talk about 20,000 killed child. You know, multiply the pain we felt for him with this number. It's something beyond, you know, the, the capacity of a human heart to contain, you know.
- [24:09]
D
What'S been the response of people to the film? What have people said to you? Something that stuck with you?
- [24:16]
C
Something.
- [24:17]
D
Yeah, if something that someone has said to you about the film that has really stayed with you.
- [24:22]
C
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 don't think that they can take it. And I in general tell them you have to bear witness. You know, it's not your life. It's not your life. Thanks God, you are privileged. You have to bear witness. And if it's really true, 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.
- [25:34]
D
We got a text that says thank you for making this film that will hopefully ignite righteous outrage and action in viewers toward a just world. The name of the film is the Voice of Hinjab. We've been speaking with its director Katha Ben Hanya. Thank you for being with us.
- [25:49]
C
Thank you. Thank you very much.
- [25:52]
F
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