Overview
- Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania constructed the film around recordings of a young Gaza girl pleading for help.
- Ben Hania says she obtained the full audio from the Palestine Red Crescent and proceeded with the approval of the child’s mother.
- Reporting describes responders facing required Israeli clearance for ambulance movement and an arriving ambulance being destroyed, killing medics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun.
- The film won the Venice Grand Jury Prize, is nominated for a Golden Globe, and serves as Tunisia’s Oscar-shortlisted submission for Best International Feature.
- U.S. screenings include a run at Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theatre, prompting renewed discussion about the ethics of using the child’s real voice in a dramatized work.