It is one of the hardest films you could watch, yet one of the most important. ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ is a top contender in this year’s Academy Awards, and its director and lead actor join Mehdi and Zeteo subscribers in a live town hall to explain the difficult task of getting this unique and challenging film about Gaza onto the big screen.
“I knew from the beginning that it will be a fight to do this movie,” says Kaouther Ben Hania, the film’s award-winning director. “It will be a fight to show it. It will be a fight to convince people to watch it. And Hind deserved this fight,” she tells Mehdi.
The Tunisian director was joined by Palestinian actor and film lead Motaz Malhees, who plays the role of ‘Omar’ in the film, the paramedic who first spoke to Hind Rajab on the phone. “It doesn’t make sense to hear a child begging you to be rescued. I felt I died a thousand times,” the actor tells Mehdi of his experience listening to the recording of Hind’s actual voice during filming.
Hania and Malhees discuss their experiences making this film, where Malhees describes having “shaking panic attacks” during shooting breaks, and Hania explains how Hind’s mother has not watched the film to this day. “She [Hind’s mother] can’t even hear the recording of the voice of her daughter, which are all over the internet.”
Paid subscribers got to ask the pair their own questions, which ranged from the film’s global reception to Hania’s future projects to what this film meant to Motaz as a Palestinian from occupied Jenin.
Paid subscribers can watch the full video above. Free subscribers can watch a four-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to unlock content like this from Zeteo - and also to join future Zeteo live town halls with big-name guests and newsmakers.
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