Overview

• Kaouther Ben Hania’s docudrama entered the main competition and premiered in Venice with producers Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara walking the red carpet.
• The film reconstructs the final hours of Hind Rajab using what the director describes as authentic phone and video recordings, while the Israeli military denies any presence at the scene.
• According to the account presented, the five-year-old spoke with Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers for about three hours, the dispatched rescuers were killed, and the bodies were recovered 12 days later.
• At the press conference the director declared, “Enough of this genocide,” and several actors accused Israel of committing genocide, a charge rejected by Israel and the German government under the UN definition requiring intent to destroy a group.
• Activist pressure shaped attendance for Julian Schnabel’s ‘In The Hand of Dante,’ with Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler not expected in Venice, as Schnabel argued against boycotting artists.