Gaza Strip: Oscar-nominated Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania has recently declined a major film award at an event in Berlin, after an Israeli general was recognised at the same event.
Ben Hania refused to receive the “Most Valuable Film” honour at the Cinema for Peace gala, held on the sidelines of the Berlin International Film Festival, and left the trophy on stage. She said her decision was intended as a protest against what she described as political support for Israel’s military actions.
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Addressing the audience, Ben Hania said the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab should not be viewed as an isolated case. “What happened to Hind is not an exception. It is part of a genocide,” she said, criticising those who frame large-scale civilian casualties as “self-defence” or “complex circumstances”.
She said any discussion of peace must include justice and accountability. “Peace is not a perfume sprayed over violence so power can feel refined and comfortable,” she said. “If we speak about peace, we must speak about justice. Justice means accountability.”
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The filmmaker said the Israeli army killed Rajab, members of her family and two paramedics who attempted to rescue her, adding that the incident took place “with the complicity of the world’s most powerful governments and institutions”.
Ben Hania said she did not want her documentary, The Voice of Hind Rajab, to be used for what she described as “image-laundering”. “I refuse to let their deaths become a backdrop for a polite speech about peace,” she said. “When peace is pursued as a legal and moral obligation, rooted in accountability, then I will come back and accept it with joy.”
She added that she felt “responsibility more than gratitude” while speaking at the ceremony.
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Her remarks come after more than 80 film professionals, including actors Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Brian Cox, as well as directors Mike Leigh and Adam McKay, signed an open letter criticising the Berlin International Film Festival. The signatories accused the festival of failing to address alleged violations of international law in Gaza and pointed to what they described as a double standard in its response to global conflicts.
The Voice of Hind Rajab recounts the final hours of the child, who was trapped in her family’s car in Gaza City in January 2024 after it came under Israeli fire. The film draws on audio recordings of her final phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, in which she pleaded for help.
The incident drew widespread international attention after reports that rescuers sent to reach her were also killed.