Ahead of her film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Kaouther Ben Hania shared the fears she had of not living up to the tall task of honoring the late six-year-old child on whom she based the Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab. “I was afraid that I’d fail her voice, that my movie would not honor Hind’s memory,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Judging by the thunderous ovation that roared through Sala Grande on Wednesday evening, the Tunisian filmmaker had nothing to fear about as she accomplished her goal and then some with the competition title. Ben Hania, who previously helmed Four Daughters, directed the 90-minute film based on the final calls of a Palestinian girl, who was trapped in a car in Gaza on Jan. 29, 2024, after Israeli forces killed her relatives. Palestine’s Red Crescent Society stayed on the line with the child for more than an hour as she pleaded for help. An ambulance sent to reach her was destroyed, killing two medics. Hind’s voice — fragments of which spread online and were later verified, became a haunting record of the ongoing war.

The capacity crowd responded to the emotional gut punch of a film at both ends of the spectrum, first with sobs and tears while the frames hit the screen followed by the longest standing ovation the fest has seen this year after credits rolled. Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who bolstered the film’s profile by signing on as executive producers alongside Brad Pitt, Alfonso Cuarón and Jonathan Glazer, turned up to show their support. They both were seen with misty eyes at the end of the film as they clapped away with the rest of the audience amid chants of “Free Palestine!”

Others waved Palestinian flags and keffiyehs while cast members from the film hoisted an oversized photo of Hind Rajab. Longtime Palestinian supporter Indya Moore, there with Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, broke down sobbing halfway through the film. She excused herself to take a breather only to return and stay until the applause died down.

In addition to the high-profile support from Hollywood figures, Tunisia has selected the film as its official entry for the Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

The film delivered an emotional day in and around Palazzo del Casino. At the afternoon press conference, Ben Hania was greeted by a lengthy standing ovation as she took her place on the panel. One of the film’s stars, Palestinian-Canadian actress Saja Kilani, then read a prepared statement.

“On behalf of all of us actors, and in the name of the entire team, we ask, ‘Isn’t it enough?’ Enough of the mass killing, the starvation, the dehumanization, the destruction, the ongoing occupation. The Voice of Hind Rajab does not need our defense. This film is not an opinion or a fantasy. It is anchored in truth. Hind’s story carries the weight of an entire people. Hind’s voice is one amongst tens of thousands of children that were killed in Gaza in the last two years alone. It is the voice of every daughter and every son with the right to live, to dream, to exist in dignity, yet all of it was stolen in front of unblinking eyes, and these are only the voices we know,” she said.

Kilani stars alongside a cast that includes Motaz Malhees, Clara Khoury and Amer Hlehel. Ben Hania directed from her own screenplay.

The 2025 Venice film festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6.