Kaouther Ben Hania ’s Gaza-set drama The Voice of Hind Rajab , one of the buzziest titles coming into this year’s Venice Film Festival given its subject matter, received what might be a film festival record 23-minute and 50-second ovation after its world premiere Wednesday evening, when the audience broke into chants of “free Palestine” after the lights went up.

It was certainly the biggest response at this year’s festival for the drama, which reconstructs the events surrounding the killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, her four cousins, her aunt and uncle, and the two paramedics who came to her rescue after their car came under fire as they tried to flee Gaza City in January 2024.

The killings took place some three months into Israel’s ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, sp

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