Gaza film 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' nominated for BAFTA award

Gaza docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab was nominated for a BAFTA Film award on Tuesday in the 'Film Not In The English Language' category, weeks after being nominated for a Golden Globe award and just after securing an Oscar nomination.

The emotional film, based on the real-time Israeli targeting and killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab in the Gaza Strip, was nominated alongside Iran's It Was Just An Accident, South Korea's No Other Choice, and Spain's Sirât.

The film has an all-Palestinian cast starring Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Amer Hlehl, and Clara Khoury and is showing in cinemas globally, including Tunisia, France and the US. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, follows the three-hour phone call between Rajab and dispatch callers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and replays the actual recordings made during the January 2024 call.

Hind can be heard crying and pleading for help, while surrounded by the bodies of her family members killed earlier by Israel. The film shows the proximity of an Israeli tank nearby, and depicts the difficulties rescue crews faced in reaching her due to ongoing attacks.

The fim further shows the plight of the dispatchers, who were trying to arrange an ambulance to rescue Rajab, while reassuring the grief-stricken child that help was on the way.

The docudrama has received widespread critical acclaim, including winning the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, where it also broke the record for the longest standing ovation at 23 minutes.

Rajab and her cousin Layan Hamadeh, had survived an initial Israeli attack after a tank and gunfire targeted their vehicle. Layan, who was 15, was killed after making the first call, leaving Hind as the sole survivor.

The child, along with two paramedics from the PRCS, was eventually killed under intense Israeli fire, causing international outrage, with the EuroMed rights monitor dubbing the attack a "planned execution".

Rajab, her cousin, and five more relatives were trying to escape Israeli bombardment in their car, advancing into Tel al-Hawa in Gaza City, until they were targeted.

The car was found laden with bullet holes and damage consistent with tank and small-arms fire, while Rajab and the six other bodies showed signs of gunfire and shelling.

Israel tried to publicly deny its forces were present in the area, or that its troops were the ones who carried out the attack, but satellite imagery and battlefield reconstruction found Israeli tanks were in the immediate vicinity of the family at the time.

Later, investigations found that the car Rajab was in was targeted with around 335 bullets, with independent forensic and media probes finding that the Israeli tank likely fired hundreds of rounds at the car from close range, within enough proximity to see civilians inside.

Fragments of a US-made tank projectile were also found at the ambulance site; indicaating that the ambulance was targeted too.

Along with the film, Rajab's death has been memorialised in many ways, including Mackelmore's Hind Hall song and a foundation created in her name that aims to pursue legal action for those complicit in Israel's genocidal war.

The BAFTA Film Awards will take place on 22 February at London's Royal Festival Hall.