Kaouther Ben Hania, the director of The Voice of Hind Rajab, refused to accept the Most Valuable Film award at the Cinema for Peace gala in Berlin on Monday.
In her speech at the event, which is held on the sidelines of the Berlin International Film Festival, Ben Hania said, “I feel responsibility more than gratitude,” highlighting how the recognition of her film — based on the tragic death of six-year-old Hind Rajab from Israeli tank fire — underscores the severity of Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
“What happened to Hind is not an exception. It’s a part of a genocide. And tonight, in Berlin, some people gave political cover to that genocide by reframing the mass civilian killing as self-defence, as complex circumstances. By denigrating those who protest,” she told the audience, which included figures such as Hillary Clinton and Kevin Spacey.
Also present in the audience was Major General Noam Tibon, a former Israeli Defence Forces commander who is the subject of the film The Road Between Us. Tibon received an honorary award at the event and his film was also awarded a Most Valuable Film honour in the Justice category.
Ben Hania said peace was not “a perfume sprayed over violence so power can feel refined and… comfortable.” “Justice means accountability. Without accountability, there is no peace,” she said.
“The Israeli army killed Hind Rajab; killed her family; killed the two paramedics who came to save her, with the complicity of the world’s most powerful governments and institutions. I refuse to let their deaths become a backdrop for a polite speech about peace. Not while the structures that enabled them remain untouched,” she said, explaining why she couldn’t accept the award.
“So tonight,” she said, “I will not take this award home. I leave it here as a reminder. And when peace is pursued as a legal and moral obligation, rooted in accountability for genocide, then I will come back and accept it with joy.”
Her film, which shows the desperate efforts of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society trying to rescue Hind as she was trapped in a car during Israel’s war on Gaza, has been hailed in the festival circuit for its strong message.
The film won the Silver Lion award at the Venice International Film Festival and received a record-breaking ovation from a tearful audience at the event. It has since been nominated for the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, two of cinema’s most prestigious honours.
Berlin meanwhile, has become the centre of controversy after more than 80 prominent film workers, including actors Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton and Javier Bardem, condemned the Berlin International Film Festival on Tuesday for its “anti-Palestinian racism” and silence on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Earlier, acclaimed author Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after the jury president said cinema should “stay out of politics” in response to a question on Gaza.
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