Venice, Italy (Enmaeya News) — "The Voice of Hind Rajab," a heart-wrenching docudrama about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, received the festival’s second prize on Saturday, and a standing ovation lasting more than 23 minutes at its premiere Wednesday at the Venice International Film Festival.

The film, directed by Franco-Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, tells the final moments of Hind Rajab, a young girl trapped in a car in Gaza City when Israeli fire struck her family in January 2024.

Audio recordings from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society capture Hind’s desperate calls for help as bullets struck nearby.

After a three-hour wait, rescuers were finally allowed to send an ambulance but contact with Hind was lost when it arrived.

Her body was later recovered, along with the remains of her relatives and the two paramedics who had tried to save her. Investigations, including a UN report and an Al Jazeera reconstruction, showed the car had been hit at close range by Israeli forces.

At the Venice Film Festival premiere, the audience waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Free, Free Palestine,” giving the film more than 23 minutes of applause, one of the longest in the festival’s history. Ben Hania told reporters the film aims to give a human face to victims often referred to as “collateral damage” in media accounts.

Hind’s mother, Wissam Hamada, said she hopes the film will help end the war and bring attention to the suffering of Gaza’s civilians.