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The first edition of the Doha Film Festival opened Thursday with the premiere of “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a film centered on the last phone call of a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza.
The screening brought together Hind’s mother, Wissam Hammadeh, and members of the Red Crescent team who responded to the incident, underscoring the emotional weight surrounding the film’s debut.
The Red Crescent team, who witnessed the incident, as well as Wissam Hammadeh, the mother of the child Hind, attended the screening of the movie.
The Qatar News Agency reported on Friday morning that the 2025 Doha Film Festival opened on Thursday at the Katara Cultural Village, with the screening of the opening film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania.
The director of the movie is Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, known for blending documentary and fiction, whose previous films—"Four Daughters" and "The Man Who Sold His Skin"—were also Oscar contenders.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” focuses on the last phone call of a five-year-old girl trapped in a car in northern Gaza, surrounded by the bodies of her family and under Israeli fire.
Built entirely around the real audio recordings of her calls to emergency responders, the film avoids showing her face in order to keep the focus on her voice, which continued to echo in the minds of audiences.
Before the screening, the film’s team took the stage. Kaouther Ben Hania thanked the Doha Film Institute. She said she first heard Hind’s voice a year ago and immediately thought of making a film. She contacted Wissam, Hind’s mother, because speaking with her was essential.
She also reached out to the Red Crescent team, “the real heroes who did everything possible to save Hind,” and noted that they were present in the hall.
Ben Hania said it was a heavy responsibility to create such a film in a difficult moment. She thanked the Doha Film Institute for being one of the first to believe in the project. She added that Doha, for the first time, “has brought together everyone connected to the film.”
In her remarks, Wissam Hammadeh, Hind’s mother, thanked Sheikha Moza bint Hamad, the Qatar Film Festival, the film’s team, and Kaouther Ben Hania for reaching out to her as a mother and helping carry her pain and her daughter’s voice. She said this was an honor for her.
She said that her message is not just words. It is the pain of a mother who lost her child and who later found in the world’s love a message from God.
"I understood that my role is to carry the voices of Gaza’s children to the world—children living in the heart of war, in darkness, deprived of their basic rights and of the dreams taken from them before they grow,” she added.
“But I have not lost my humanity or my purpose. That is why I stand before you today—to be their voice, to say to the world, to save the childhood of Gaza before its last light goes out.”
As though the film had already achieved wide solidarity, earlier, the website Deadline had announced that “a group of Hollywood luminaries and producers has joined the movie as executive producers ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.”
Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jonathan Glazer have signed on as producers after being impressed by a recent cut of the film.
The movie received an overwhelming reception at its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, earning more than 20 minutes of applause.
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