- ...
- home
- news
- 'the voice ...
'The Voice of Hind Rajab' by Ben Hania takes home the Grand Prix
Grand Prix for Best Film
On Saturday evening, 18 October, the Official Competition of the 52nd edition of Film Fest Gent concluded with an award ceremony followed by the festival’s closing film Urchin, the directorial debut of British actor Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, Baby Girl).
The International Jury, composed of Charlotte Adigéry, Alain Desauvage, Denise Fernandes, Maxime Jean-Baptiste, Ramon Zürcher, and Jury President Theresa Russell, watched and considered a diverse and daring selection of twelve feature films and documentaries, including The Mastermind by Kelly Reichardt, Memory of Princess Mumbi by Damien Hauser, Nuestra Tierra by Lucrecia Martel, and the Belgian-Vietnamese film Hair, Paper, Water... (Tóc, Giấy và Nước…). Out of this line-up, the jury awarded the Grand Prix for Best Film to The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania.
Blending real emergency call recordings with staged scenes, Ben Hania (Four Daughters, The Man who Sold his Skin) reconstructs the final moments of six-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab, trapped in a car in Gaza and surrounded by Israeli fire while speaking to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Keeping violence off-screen, the film draws its devastating power from sound, silence, and the unbearable tension of waiting. In its unflinching confrontation with systemic failure, The Voice of Hind Rajab locks its characters (and possibly its audiences too) as implicated subjects of extreme violence. As such, the film contemplates questions of responsibility and the limitations of compassion without action. As Ben Hania states: “I cannot accept a world in which a child cries for help and no one comes.”
The jury members of Film Fest Gent stated: “Some stories are silenced. This film creates a space for a voice to be heard. The real voice of a little girl. A quiet voice that grows into a loud cry for humanity. Through a powerful cinematic construction, blending fiction and reality with precision and empathy, the film transforms this cry into an act of resistance - preserving a memory that should never be forgotten.”
The Voice of Hind Rajab will be released in Belgian cinemas by Cinéart on 19 November. The film receives a €20,000 distribution grant and a media campaign worth €30,000, including €12,500 in De Morgen.
The jury also gave a Special Mention to The Love That Remains (Ástin Sem Eftir Er) by Hlynur Pálmason, calling it “a highly original and poetic film that resonates on both an emotional and artistic level, with its playful blend of humor and humanity”. The film revolves around a family trying to regain their footing after a divorce and surpasses the conventions of the family melodrama through tender poetry, surreal symbolism and a punch of dark humor.
© Bas BogaertsGeorges Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack/Sound Design
Music has always held a central place at Film Fest Gent. Alongside the World Soundtrack Awards, the festival annually highlights the essential role of music and sound in cinema through the Georges Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack/Sound Design. This year’s George Delerue Award goes to Barrio Triste by Stillz, a Colombian-American photographer and music video director making his feature debut.
When a camera lands in the hands of four teenagers, their mischievous curiosity bursts into a raw, unflinching self-portrait of life on the fringes of Medellín. Set in the late 1980s, amid poverty and violence, they document their days. What begins as a game quickly evolves into a hypnotic journey through a world where brutality, isolation, and fleeting moments of joy exist side by side.
In his feature debut, Stillz (known best for his work with Bad Bunny and Rosalía) brings the same bold and imaginative energy to the screen. Blending found footage, lo-fi video, and long tracking shots through labyrinthine alleys and steep hillsides, Barrio Triste immerses us in a world both brutal and poetic. The pulsating score by Venezuelan composer Arca amplifies the film’s raw emotion, while EDGLRD, the production company founded by Harmony Korine, provides Stillz the space to fully realise his vision.
The International Jury praised: “Like a nightmarish journey into the bowels of a rough neighborhood in Medellín, Colombia, this film is raw, dry, and compelling. It opens a door to the emotions and inner worlds of a gang of stray boys, exposing both their brutality and their fragility. The sound design and Arca’s music mirror the film perfectly - uncompromising, abrasive, and loud.”
Arca thanked the festival and jury explaining that "a lot of love went into the score. Stillz and I discussed the importance of invoking both the light and the shadow, metaphorically speaking, in service of opening minds and hearts. We discussed not telegraphing emotion, but instead creating a space for the audience to come to terms with their own emotional landscapes as the film progresses. Muchas gracias, de corazón por este reconocimiento!”
Barrio Triste has not yet found a distributor in Belgium. The Belgian distributor receives a €10,000 distribution grant to support the release and a media campaign worth €14,000.
