From Gaza to LA, hopes rise as The Voice of Hind Rajab heads to the Oscars | The movie

Voice of Hind Rajab is a call to action, its makers and supporters told Al Jazeera, and hopes for the Oscar-nominated film are high ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Nominated in the Best International Feature category, the Gaza-set docudrama reconstructs the assassination of a five-year-old Israeli.

On January 24, 2024, around 7:30 p.m., Hind died from her injuries when she was trapped in a car surrounded by the bodies of her relatives, after her family had been forcibly evacuated from Gaza City hours earlier. He followed orders and tried to leave. But on their way, the Israeli army fired more than 300 bullets at a black Kia driven by Hind’s uncle.

Hind is a global symbol for the plight of Palestinian children who have lost more than 20,000 lives in Israel’s genocidal war.

“The Oscars are important because it’s one of the biggest platforms in the world for film,” Odessa Ray, one of the film’s producers, told Al Jazeera by phone from Los Angeles. “The goal of this film is obviously to be seen by the widest possible audience … The Oscars allow us to achieve more in the world.”

Palestinians also have high hopes for this film.

In Gaza, filmmaker Mohammed al-Sawwaf told Al Jazeera, “The arrival of the voice of Hind Rajab to these platforms and its ability to break through the indifference that exists there is extremely valuable in itself.”

He said, “The human story from Gaza is presented as a story of a person with life and meaning, rather than a picture of a Palestinian who appears as a number on news screens or as evidence of an event within the framework of war.”

‘Devastating message reaches further’

The film uses Hind’s real voice, recorded during emergency calls with the Red Crescent, moments before she was killed by Israeli forces.

“I fervently hope that this remarkable film wins its Oscar category so that its devastating message reaches further and has a greater impact on those in government who are in a position to end this bloodshed,” Juliet Stevenson, a British actor and one of the UK’s leading pro-Palestinian voices, told Al Jazeera.

The 89-minute feature tells Hind’s story from the perspective of Palestinian Red Crescent workers who tried to save her, but were blocked from reaching her by Israeli forces.

The film, directed by Tunisian Kouthar Ben Hania and starring an ensemble of Palestinian actors, has wowed critics, won awards and received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival in September.

On Thursday, US lawmakers introduced the “Justice for Hind Rajab Act,” legislation aimed at accountability — “a step toward justice in the Hind story,” Ray said.

Wissam Hamada, Hind’s mother, was separated from her daughter on a fateful day who left on foot. Although she can’t watch the film, because Hind’s voice is still too hard to hear, she has traveled with the filmmakers to several cities to speak about the unimaginable impact of Israel’s war on children.

The Oscars “need to do more than recognize cinematic excellence – it must recognize that a child’s story and the suffering of an entire people cannot be erased or ignored,” Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Hassan Alremaihi told Al Jazeera. “Awards alone will not change the reality on the ground. If the most visible platform in cinema recognizes this film, it must come with a commitment from the global community to protect and amplify the truth of the brutality we see every day.”

At first, Israel denied that its soldiers were in the area where Hind was killed. After an investigation by journalists, including Al Jazeera, the army said it had struck “terrorist targets” in Gaza City that day. In January, Israeli authorities told the BBC they were looking into the case.

“The hope is that such recognition is more than applause, but it will help turn awareness into accountability and ensure that the humanity at the heart of Gaza’s suffering is not denied or forgotten,” Alremaihi said.

‘Don’t leave me alone’: Hind’s last words

Before her life was brutally cut short, Hind witnessed some of Israel’s worst atrocities.

In the last moments of her life, she begged her mother on the phone, “Mom don’t leave me alone, I’m tired, I’m thirsty, and I’m hurt.”

“A story like Hind Rajab is symbolic of thousands of other stories,” said Al-Sawwaf, a filmmaker from Gaza. “There are thousands of women and men with lives, details and dreams no less full than hers.”

“People in Gaza don’t see the Oscars or the arrival of these films as having the potential to stop war, end injustice or change reality,” he said.

He believes there is a real impact in changing how the world perceives what is happening in Palestine, and adds, “It may not change reality in a revolutionary way, but it will change how people see what is happening here.”

A “ceasefire” was reached in October 2025, two years after Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began. But since then, hundreds of people have been killed in Israeli attacks.

“Despite mountains of news and a large number of films and documentaries detailing the tragedy, the world has largely chosen to turn its back on the destruction of the Palestinian homeland, the destruction of their entire infrastructure, the slaughter of their people, the violation of their rights and freedoms. Future generations will be appalled,” Stevenson said.

“But this film – The Voice of Hind Rajab – has managed to break through to mainstream cultural platforms. When nominated for an Oscar, it brings out the barbarism and brutality of those in a position to act and make a difference.”

Ibrahim al-Otla, a Gaza filmmaker who works with al-Sawwaf, said the film “reveals the truth about deliberate killings, field executions and the erasure of entire families from the civil registry.”

“It helps deliver a real picture and expose the crimes committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza, (but) what is happening in Gaza is much more difficult than what the world sees in these films.”