Palestinian actor and lead of the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Moataz Malhis, confirmed that the film, which premiered yesterday at the Venice Film Festival, received an unprecedented and wide public reception when the crew took the stage, with the audience applauding for 24 minutes in honor of the souls of Gaza’s children suffering from the war’s horrors for nearly two years.

Malhis told Al Jazeera in an interview that the applause would have lasted much longer if not for the theater management’s intervention and their request for the crew to leave the stage.

The documentary tells the story of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was shot over 355 times by the Israeli occupation after she called out to the world but no one could save her. The filmmakers aim to shed light on the stories of Palestinians who deserve freedom, according to the film’s lead actor.

In January 2024, the Palestinian girl Hind Rajab was killed after being trapped inside her family’s car, which came under fire from the Israeli army in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Hind remained in contact by phone with Palestinian ambulance and civil defense teams for more than three hours, pleading and describing her surroundings before the connection was lost. She was found 12 days later as a lifeless body beside her family members, with 355 bullets having torn through her small body.

According to Malhis, a 16-year veteran actor, this is the first time a film has received such a warm and emotional reception from the audience, with a sense of awe and shock overwhelming everyone since the film’s screening began.

He added that everyone in the hall was “sobbing and crying” from the first five minutes of the film, moved by the movie which used real audio recordings of the heroic child Hind Rajab.

Regarding Western audience reactions, the Palestinian actor said most expressed shock and inability to comprehend that this story actually happened in a part of the world today amidst global silence, describing “The Voice of Hind Rajab” as one of the strongest films produced by world cinema, not just Arab or Palestinian cinema.

The Palestinian actor expressed his belief in the importance of cinema as a weapon to support the Palestinian cause, especially in Europe and the West, noting its success in challenging Israeli claims and the false narrative promoted in the West.

Malhis emphasized the importance of using art and social media to dismantle the Israeli occupation’s false narrative about what is happening in Gaza, stating that given the occupation’s military superiority over Arabs and Palestinians, the only remaining weapon is art for resistance and “delivering our message” to the world.

It is worth noting that the film “The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Tunisian director Kawthar Ben Hania was part of the official competition at the Venice Film Festival on September 3. It documents the last moments of the Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was trapped inside a car under Israeli bombardment amid real audio recordings.