Tunisian Gaza film The Voice of Hind Rajab wins top prize at Khouribga festival

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab has won the Ousmane Sembène Grand Prize for feature films at the 26th African Film Festival in Khouribga, Morocco.

The festival took place from 30 May to 6 June 2026, bringing together films from across the continent.

The Tunisian film competed in the feature film competition alongside 13 other works from Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Cameroon, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique and Togo, according to TAP.

It was the only Tunisian film in the competition.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is a 2025 feature film inspired by the story of Hind Rajab, the Palestinian child killed in Gaza after making an emergency call to the Palestinian Red Crescent while trapped in a car.

The film moves between documentary and fiction, using the real emergency call while actors portray the rescue workers trying to keep Hind on the line and coordinate help.

Written and directed by Ben Hania, the film stars Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Clara Khoury and Amer Hlehel, with music by Tunisian composer Amine Bouhafa.

The Khouribga prize adds to a major international run for the film. It previously won the Silver Lion, the Grand Jury Prize, at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, along with six parallel awards.

The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, representing Tunisia at the 98th Academy Awards.

At the 36th Carthage Film Days, it received an honorary jury prize, while Saja Kilani won the best actress award for her role.

The film was also given the Most Valuable Film award at the Cinema for Peace event in Berlin. Ben Hania declined the award on stage, criticising the organisers’ call to keep the event apolitical and saying that peace without justice was not peace.

The Khouribga festival is one of Africa’s established cinema events and focuses on films from across the continent. This year’s feature competition brought together work from North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa.

For Tunisia, the prize marks another recognition for Ben Hania, whose films have repeatedly placed Tunisian cinema on the international festival circuit.

Her previous film, Four Daughters, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

With The Voice of Hind Rajab, Ben Hania has taken a Palestinian story into major festival spaces, from Venice to Carthage and now Khouribga, while keeping Tunisia at the centre of the film’s international identity.