Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix join forces on Hind Rajab film ahead of Venice festival premiere
Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Rooney Mara have signed on as executive producers for the film The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is set to debut at the Venice Film Festival. They join Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuaron in supporting the project.
Directed by Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, the film dramatises the final hours of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian child killed by Israeli fire in January 2024 after being stranded in a car with her dead relatives in Gaza.
The film is a co-production between Pitt’s Plan B, Saudi company MBC, and the UK’s Film4. Other notable producers include film producer Jemima Khan, designer Sabine Getty, and Lionsgate Entertainment founder Frank Giustra.
Glazer, who won the Oscar for Best International Feature for his Holocaust film The Zone of Interest, drew both praise and criticism for his acceptance speech. “Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst.
READ ALSO: Israel’s Gaza campaign is making it a Pariah State, by Thomas L. Friedman
It shaped all of our pasts and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation that has led to conflict for so many innocent people,” he said.
After being branded an anti-Semite, Glazer received support from over 150 Jewish figures in Hollywood, including Phoenix, who signed an open letter defending him.
“Attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign, which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation,” the letter stated.
A Story of Grief and Remembrance
The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is competing for the top Golden Lion prize, will premiere on September 3. The film uses a real audio recording of the child as its central narrative thread. It was shot in a single location to focus on the tension, silence, and growing fear of a child left without rescue.
READ ALSO: Israeli protesters demand Gaza ceasefire, hostage release ahead of cabinet meeting
The film will compete against high-profile projects like Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein and Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite.
Ben Hania, whose last film Four Daughters was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar, said the idea for the film came to her after hearing the audio recording of Hind Rajab. “I immediately felt a mix of helplessness and an overwhelming sadness. A physical reaction, like the ground shifted under me. I couldn’t carry on as planned,” she said.
She added that the film is not just a personal story of loss but also has a universal message. “This story is not just about Gaza. It speaks to a universal grief,” she said. “Cinema can preserve a memory. Cinema can resist amnesia. May Hind Rajab’s voice be heard.”
The 82nd Venice Film Festival is set to open on Wednesday.
Follow the Neptune Prime channel on WhatsApp:
Do you have breaking news, interview request, opinion, suggestion, or want your event covered? Email us at neptuneprime2233@gmail.com
