Film Festival: Gaza reaches a big festival stage – with Hollywood support

A documentary girl in the Gaza Strip that was co -produced by Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix about a killed Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip. The film “The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania is part of the competition, which for the first time the Gaza War gets the big stage at an A Festival. The work, which did not deal on October 7, 2023 as the trigger of the war, celebrated its premiere on Wednesday.

Unusually long applause after the premiere

Phoenix and his partner Rooney Mara, who is also one of the producers, ran across the red carpet and had tears in their eyes after the premiere, as the “Hollywood Reporter” wrote.

Various media reported that after the premiere, the film team got applause and standing ovations in the cinema hall – even at film festivals unusual duration and significantly more than any other film has so far received in competition. “Free Palestine” calls could be heard in the cinema hall, and individual people swiveled Palestinian flags.

The documentary drama tells the last moments in the life of the Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in the Gaza Strip. The five -year -old, according to the film team, died in January 2024 when she was escaped by her family from the city of Gaza. The film and several independent studies suggest that it and parts of their family were killed by Israeli forces.

Kaouther Ben Hania has preceded her film: “This dramatization is based on real events.” The director combines original sound and video recordings with detached and dramatized scenes.

The Israeli military contested the attack and announced that there were no troops on site at the time.

Film uses real telephone and video recordings

The central element of the film is a real telephone recording, according to the Tunisian director. While the girl in the car already killed between killed family members, it was on the phone with volunteers from the Palestinian red crescent moon and pleaded for help for around three hours.

The rescuers who set off after hours of coordination were therefore killed on their way to Hind Rajab. Then the connection to Hind broke off, which was recovered dead with her family and the paramedics 12 days later.

Premiere of Jewish filmmaker Schnabel without Gal Gadot?

The Gaza War influenced the further festival on Wednesday. After “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, the premiere of “In The Hand of Dante” was planned – a historical thriller directed by the Jewish US director Julian Schnabel. Two of the actors, the Israeline Gal Gadot and the Briton Gerard Butler, were hostile to Propalestinian activists before the festival started who demanded their unloading.

Gadot, who did military service in Israel, had declared himself solidarity with the Israeli victims after Hamas’ terrorist attack in October 2023 and spoke out for the release of the Israeli hostages. Butler has also publicly known himself to Israel in the past. They were not expected in Venice. Her management did not comment on request.

Before the premiere, director Schnabel said: “I think there is no reason to boycott artists. I chose these actors because of their acting performance and they did extraordinary in the film.” He did not want to comment on “Hind Rajab” and the debate about the Gaza War at the festival.

Filmmaker uses the press conference for political appeal

The Hamas terrorist attack was triggered on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people killed in Israel and more than 250 more were dragged into the Gaza strip, including children. This is not discussed in the film, which focuses on the fate of Hind and her family.

Israel speaks of self -defense after the terrorist attack and has promised to keep the damage to the civilian population as low as possible. However, the high number of civilian victims in the Gaza War is criticized internationally.

The film team expressed its grief in Venice about Hind Rajab’s fate and at the same time used the press conference for a political appeal. “Enough of this genocide,” said Kaouther Ben Hania. Several actors also accused Israel of walking a genocide in the fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the German government also reject the accusation of genocide. According to the UN Convention, the term genocide describes the intention of destroying a population group. According to its own statements, Israel strives for the destruction of the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, but not the destruction of the Palestinian people.