Filmhouse/New Kalamata Cinema Club-THE VOICE OF HINDI RAJAB
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How much weight can a voice carry? In what universal language does the cry of a small child speak when, sobbing through a telephone, she tries to escape an imminent death after already witnessing the murder of her family? How much bitterness, pain and crushing tragedy can humanity absorb? These are only some of the questions raised by the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Sawt Hind Rajab), a powerful blend of documentary and fiction that does not demand answers from the viewer. Instead, it invites the audience to become witnesses, almost participants, in the horror and devastation of war.
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania builds her film upon the real, marathon-length recorded phone calls of six-year-old Hind Rajab with volunteers at a Red Crescent emergency centre. The little girl manages to call for help from inside her family’s car, riddled with bullets. The phone line repeatedly breaks, her voice sometimes barely audible, fading in and out between fear and desperation. Meanwhile, the rescue attempt unfolds painfully slowly, turning each passing minute into an agonizing stretch of uncertainty.
Ben Hania approaches the material with restraint and dignity. Without resorting to emotional manipulation, she allows the raw testimony itself to reveal the brutality of war in Palestine. The result is a film that confronts the viewer not through spectacle, but through the fragile persistence of a child’s voice struggling to be heard.
The film has received numerous nominations and awards, most notably the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2025, and it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2026.
Screening Information
Thursday, March 19th
The Voice of Hind Rajab – Sawt Hind Rajab
DocuDrama | 15+ | 2025 | Tunisia | 89’
Directed by: Kaouther Ben Hania
Starring: Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Amer Hlehel
21:15 | Kalamata Labour Centre
General admission: 5€
Reduced admission: 3€ for unemployed people, large families, and students
Free admission for viewers under 18
