The desperation in the small, frail voice on the other end of a scratchy telephone line is unmistakeable: “I’m scared. They’re shooting. Come get me, please… I’m all alone.”
It was January 29, 2024, when an operator with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza answered an emergency call from Hind Rami Iyad Rajab, a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was trapped in the wreckage of her family’s car. The family was trying to escape shelling by the Israel Defense Forces when their Kia was struck, killing five of Rajab’s family members. A sixth, Rajab’s 15-year-old cousin, Layan Hamadeh, survived the initial attack but was later heard screaming over the telephone line when an approaching Israeli tank strafed the car with machine gun fire, killing her and leaving the 5-year-old girl alone and terrified.
For nearly three hours, the Red Crescent Society stayed on the line with Rajab as they worked with the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israeli military to get an ambulance to the scene — a harrowing trip in a war zone where emergency responders routinely draw gunfire. In the end, Rajab’s pleas for help, all of which were captured live and later broadcast worldwide, were for naught. Rajab and her family were found dead 12 days later, along with the remains of two paramedics and the burnt ambulance sent to rescue her. An investigation found that the vehicle had been hit with more than 300 bullets.
On Wednesday, the University of Vermont will host a free screening of The Voice of Hind Rajab, the 2025 feature that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Based on real-life events and featuring nearly 70 minutes of the actual recording of Rajab, the movie, written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, will be presented by executive producer and 1978 UVM grad Jon Kilik, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker.
If Kilik isn’t a household name in Vermont, he ought to be. The Oscar-nominated producer first got interested in filmmaking in his junior year at UVM. After nine months working at WCAX, he moved to New York City to try his hand in the movie industry as a screenwriter and maker of short films.
Kilik’s first major break came when he worked on Spike Lee’s 1989 blockbuster, Do the Right Thing. In all, Kilik produced 16 films with Lee. He has since played an instrumental role in numerous other hit movies, including Robert DeNiro’s A Bronx Tale, Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers, Oliver Stone’s Alexander and The Hunger Games series. In all, The Voice of Hind Rajab is his 12th film to receive at least one Academy Award nomination.
In an interview from his home in New York City’s West Village, Kilik told Seven Days that when he first learned about the project that became The Voice of Hind Rajab, he knew right away that he wanted to be part of it.
“When I heard the voice, when everyone around the world heard the voice, it was just a chilling shock,” he said. “We all see the images [of the Gaza War] of course. But to hear the voice and to hear the desperation and pleas for her life were so unique.”
Kilik described the film’s narrative as a recurring theme in his films — namely, situations involving oppression, innocence in peril and the struggle to stay alive. When the recording of Rajab’s phone call made news, it sparked international outrage and protests.
On March 12, Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) was one of five members of Congress who introduced the Justice for Hind Rajab Act, which would require the U.S. government to investigate and hold accountable those deemed responsible for the killings.
“This was not a ‘fog of war’ situation, ” Welch said in a written statement last month. “We need answers and accountability for the deaths of Hind, her family and the paramedics who came to their rescue.”
Despite the Gaza War’s highly controversial nature and its description as genocide, the film itself has been overwhelmingly well-received by critics and audiences for its stark realism and devastating emotional impact. Nevertheless, last month India’s Central Board of Film Certification blocked the movie’s release in that country out of concerns that it could disrupt India’s relationship with Israel.
“The subject matter is polarizing for some who don’t want to deal with it or accept it as truth,” Kilik said. “But this is a very humanistic movie. It isn’t about anything but valuing lives and recognizing that these tragedies are happening.”
The Voice of Hind Rajab will screen at UVM’s Billings Ira Allen Lecture Hall on Wednesday, April 29, at 6 p.m. Free.
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