The Voice of Hind Rajab by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania won the runner-up Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.
The film, which premiered on Wednesday, focuses on telephone operators from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society who tried for hours to reassure the trapped Hind Rajab as she begged to be rescued from the car, where her aunt, uncle, and three cousins already lay dead.
Chants of 'free, free Palestine' at premiere
At the premiere, the film received a 24-minute standing ovation, with chants of "free, free Palestine," coming from the audience.
US independent director Jim Jarmusch's gentle comedy about families and ageing, Father Mother Sister Brother, beat the film to win the prestigious Golden Lion award.
Venice has often been seen as the most glamorous and least political of the major film festivals, but in 2025, the movies that made the strongest impact focused on current events, with the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza casting a long shadow.
As he unveiled his own picture last weekend, Jarmusch acknowledged that he was concerned that one of his main distributors had taken money from a company with ties to the Israeli military.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, which uses the real audio of a young girl's desperate pleas for help as her car comes under Israeli gunfire, was the fan favourite, winning a record 24-minute standing ovation at its premiere.
"Cinema cannot bring Hind back, nor can it erase the atrocity committed against her. Nothing can ever restore what was taken, but cinema can preserve her voice, make it resonate across borders," Ben Hania said on Saturday night.
"Her voice will continue to echo until accountability is real, until justice is served."
The anti-Israel legal organization Hind Rajab Foundation took the name of the child, whose death was reported in January 2024 amid the Israel-Hamas war.
The organization has attempted to file legal proceedings against IDF veterans and active service personnel visiting other countries, including at the Tomorrowland festival in Belgium in July.