SILVER LION Grand Jury for The Voice of Hind Rajab

Yesterday The Voice of Hind Rajab won the Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize of the 82nd Venice Film Festival 2025.

From https://variety.com/2025/film/festivals/venice-film-festival-awards-winners-list-golden-lion-1236507924/:

'Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a drama recounting the real-life killing of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl (about which Variety‘s critic was somewhat more measured than many of the other raves), had been the subject of a lot of speculation as to its placement in the final awards rundown. In the event, Ben Hania’s film took the second-place grand jury prize and she delivered the fieriest speech of an evening during which it seemed that more recipients referred to Gaza — directly or indirectly — than did not.

After dedicating her win to the Palestinian Red Crescent and the other “heroes” in the first response teams in Gaza, Ben Hania said: “Hind’s voice was a cry for rescue the entire world could hear but no one answered. Her voice will continue to echo until accountability and justice is served. Cinema cannot bring her back nor can it erase the atrocity that was committed against her. But cinema can preserve her voice.”

After reminding the audience that “this is not only about memory but urgency. Hind’s mother and little brother are still in Gaza, their lives are still in danger. I urge the leaders of the world to save them,” she went on to read a message from Hind’s mother, who wrote: “There are many children still waiting for help.” Ben Hania then quoted Nelson Mandela’s statement that “our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians” and continued in uncompromising form: “This is not just Hind’s story, it is the story of a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity… May Hind rest in peace, may the eyes of her killers never sleep, and free Palestine.”