The film nominated for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, "The Voice of Hind Razab" by a Tunisian author Kauter ben Hanije, will premiere on February 25th at 6:30 PM in the Blue Hall of the Sava Center as part of the FEST Intro event.
The film "The Voice of Hind Razab" had its world premiere in Venice last September, where it was awarded the Silver Lion, and has since established itself as one of the most moving films of today.
It is based on authentic recordings of conversations between six-year-old Hind Razab, who, trapped in a car under Israeli fire in Gaza, was the sole survivor and pleaded with Red Crescent workers to save her. While they tried to keep her connected, they did everything in their power to get an ambulance to her.
Director Kauter ben Haniya learned about the story of Hind while she was preparing to shoot a completely different film.
"The moment I heard her voice, something shifted inside me. I felt a powerful wave of helplessness and sadness. It was as if the world had shifted slightly on its axis. Hindi's voice in that moment became something more than a child's desperate cry. It seemed like the very voice of Gaza, its cry for help going off into the void, faced with indifference and silence. It was a painfully real metaphor: a cry for salvation that the world could hear, but to which no one was ready or able to respond," the director said.
She turned to the only tool she knew – film – not to explain or analyze anything, but to preserve a voice, resist amnesia, and pay tribute to a moment the world should never forget.
Kauter ben Haniya (48) completed her film studies in Tunis and Paris and is constantly exploring the boundaries between fiction and documentary. Her previous works, “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020) and “Four Daughters” (2023), were awarded in Venice and Cannes and were both nominated for an Oscar; the former for Best Foreign Language Film and the latter for Best Documentary Film.
She found inspiration for "Voice of Hind Razab" in the films "Enlargement" Brian de Palma, "Eavesdropping" Francis Ford Coppola and "Guilt" Gustava Molera.
The film was supported by, as executive producers, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer i Alfonso Cuaron. Pedro Almodovar he stated that this was one of his favorite films of the past year.
At its premiere in Venice, the film was greeted with a record-breaking 23-minute standing ovation, and in San Sebastian it won the Audience Award.
Around the world, "The Voice of Hind Razab" has made a strong impression on viewers. Critics have praised it almost unanimously, calling it the "most important" and "most needed" film of the decade.
"This is not just a film you will think about for a long time, this is a film you will live with," they say.
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