Tunisia has selected Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza-set drama The Voice of Hind Rajab as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.
The drama reconstructs the events surrounding the killing of six-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, sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 terror attacks, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 61,000 people living in the Palestinian territory.
The Oscar candidate selection was made by a committee of film and TV professionals under the supervision of Tunisia’s National Center for Cinema and Image.
Ben Hania is one of Tunisia’s most internationally renowned directors. Her last film Four Daughters was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2024 Academy Awards, having been presented in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Golden Eye award.
Her previous film The Man Who Sold His Skin was also nominated at the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film in 2021, representing Tunisia.
