• ‘Artists have always been at the forefront of fighting for human justice,’ says Irish actor Liam Cunningham
• Hind Rajab’s story is ‘one amongst many’ and ‘it reaches deep into your human core … that’s what connects us all,’ says actor Saja Kilani

ISTANBUL

From the haunting cries of a child in Gaza to the defiant uprising of 1936, two Palestinian films at this year’s Bosphorus Film Festival bridge past and present, using cinema to trace a century of loss and resistance.

The Voice of Hind Rajab, built around the final phone call of a five-year-old trapped in a car with the bodies of her family and under Israeli fire, continues to haunt all who hear it.

In Palestine 36, the 1936 uprising comes alive through the struggles of workers and rebels resisting British rule.

One story captures the horror of the present, the other resurrects the roots of injustice. Together, they turn the big screen into a place to bear witness.

“Films are extremely important for us now,” producer Sawsan Asfari told Anadolu. “At a time when we’re being ethnically cleansed, militarily we’ll never win, but we can inform people about the tragedies happening in our country, through film, through art, through culture.”

Bearing witness through art

Hind Rajab was killed on Jan. 29, 2024 by an Israeli tank crew alongside six of her family members as she phoned emergency personnel from a car in Tel al-Hawa, northern Gaza.

The recording of Rajab’s call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society showcased the grim realities of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“Please get me out of here,” the little girl said in desperate pleas for an ambulance to be dispatched during the three-hour call.

For producer Asfari, the emotional weight of The Voice of Hind Rajab, which uses Hind’s actual voice recording without ever showing her face, was overwhelming.

“It’s just her real-life voice, that was very emotional, but that was also very hard,” she said. “During the edit, when they sent me the film, I was watching it on my desktop. I had to keep hitting pause, go, cry and come back.”

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, Asfari said the filmmaker, skilled at blending documentary and feature film, was driven to bring Rajab’s story to the screen, preserving its truth and universal grief.

Actor Motaz Malhees, who portrays Omar – the volunteer who first answers Rajab’s call – said participating in the project was “the biggest honour of my life.”

He hesitated when he first read the script. “It was a huge responsibility,” he said, but decided that telling the story was what mattered most.

He said the most difficult part of the role was speaking with the real-life Omar and listening to the actual recordings of Rajab’s call. Hearing the child’s desperate pleas made the experience feel painfully real, he said, adding that at one point he felt overwhelmed on set.

“No child should ever be harmed,” he said. “That’s the main message for me – those children are angels.”

Jordanian-Palestinian actress Saja Kilani, who plays Rana – another volunteer from the call center who speaks with Rajab – said the story felt like “a huge responsibility, both as an artist and as a Palestinian,” but also felt honored to “be just the vessel to tell the story.”

“I learned a lot from Rana … I'm lucky to call her my friend today,” she said. “I think she taught me how to be courageous.”

For her, the film’s message goes beyond sadness and loss. “For me, it extends hope,” she said. “I think it's the one thing we have control over, and hope needs effort. It's a force.”

She described the filming process as deeply communal, as everyone was so connected, from the crew to the cast to the extras.

Kilani called on people to share the story’s message far and wide. “I think it reaches deep into your human core … that’s what connects us all,” she said.

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in October, winning the Grand Jury Prize and receiving nearly a 24-minute standing ovation – the longest in the festival’s history.

Revisiting a forgotten revolt

While The Voice of Hind Rajab echoes the realities of today’s war, Palestine 36 journeys back to 1936 to explore the origins of the Palestinian struggle.

“It was almost eight years in the making,” Asfari said of the production. “They were meant to film in Palestine. Then Oct. 7 happened, they had to move to Jordan, but they did come back to Palestine in the end.”

Asfari said Palestine 36 stands out as an “exceptional film” because it explores “the root of the Palestinian cause” – the British handover of Palestinian land to Jewish immigrants.

The film, directed by Annemarie Jacir, is described by Asfari as “an important historical work enriched by extensive research and archival material that highlights the Palestine of that era as a thriving society, with universities, institutions and strong communities.”

“This goes to show that Palestine was not a land without a people for a people without a land,” she said. “The land had people … the British chose to ignore that.”

The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival to a 20-minute standing ovation and has been selected as the Palestinian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

Irish actor Liam Cunningham, who plays a British officer in the film, said it is crucial in showing how history led to “the genocide in Gaza and the ongoing destruction of the West Bank.”

Set in 1936, 12 years before Israel’s founding, the actor said Palestine 36 shows “the mess that the British made – the arrogant mess to decide other people’s lives.”

Cunningham said the story resonated personally.

“The Palestinian situation mirrors what the British did in Ireland,” he said. “I really understood what the land means to the Palestinians and it was the same with the Irish. When we got our land back, it was much deeper than politics … It’s the ground you walk on.”

Cunningham, known for his roles in acclaimed productions such as Game of Thrones and with 33 years of acting experience, praised the film’s scale and realism despite limited resources, describing Palestine 36 as “more important” than his other projects.

For Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, portraying a Palestinian dockworker in the 1930s under British rule reflected ongoing struggles.

“We faced the same things we are facing now as people,” he said.

Bakri stressed that creating art during the Gaza genocide felt like “a small victory.”

“We didn’t change the world,” he said, “but we still are able to do and to defend life and the meaning of life, and to continue our struggle in telling our story,” – one that, he added, is still silenced or distorted “in the Western and even some Arab media.”

“In a way, we are fighting this complicity, we are fighting these lies,” he said.

Telling the untold

Asfari said Palestinian filmmakers face constant hurdles in financing and distributing their work.

“Independent film is already difficult. Palestinian independent films are even more difficult,” she said. “Once you get the film done, the main challenge is distribution. Many distributors are sometimes too afraid to take on a Palestinian film.”

Despite the obstacles, the filmmakers saw storytelling as resistance.

Kilani said she hoped audiences would “really listen to the voice of Hind, and know that it stands for more than just Hind. The story is one amongst many.”

From Gaza’s ruins to Jaffa’s port, both films insist on memory – and the right to tell one’s own story. “This is kind of a huge dream of ours,” Kilani said. “To have such a powerful collective of people together, because we’re all one at the end of the day.”

“Artists have always been at the forefront of fighting for human justice,” Cunningham said, stressing that people do not always see the terrible events happening around the world. But through film, audiences can see these realities and reflect.

He urged people to take a stand.

“Get out on the street. Speak to their politicians. Speak to the press. Call out the lies. Call out the Hasbara,” he said. “Fight for peace and justice for the men, women and children of Palestine.”