Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, whose “The Voice of Hind Rajab” is a contender in the 2026 Oscars for Best International Feature, will receive a special tribute at Italy’s Biografilm Festival, the unique event billed as a cinematic celebration of human lives.
Ben Hania – who in September elicited the longest standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival for “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which premiered to more than 20 minutes of thunderous applause and then won the Silver Lion – will be feted with the fest’s International Celebration of Lives Award. According to a statement, the honor is dedicated to “recognizing filmmakers whose work has left an indelible mark on contemporary cinema and the art of real-world storytelling.”
The director, whose two previous films — “The Man Who Sold His Skin” and “Four Daughters” — were also Oscar-nominated, has been touring the festival circuit with “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” which centers on a single, haunting voice: that of a real 5-year-old Palestinian girl trapped inside a car that was attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza and later found dead.
The Biografilm Festival tribute will see Ben Hania return to the Biografilm Festival following her appearance at the event’s 2024 edition for the Italian premiere of “Four Daughters” that weaves documentary and fiction, exploring the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni who publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters who had left Tunisia to fight with ISIS.
In a joint statement Biografilm Festival artistic directors Chiara Liberti and Massimo Benvegnù expressed their enthusiasm for this year’s honoree: “In an era of rapid and ephemeral visual stimuli, Kaouther Ben Hania’s cinema provides a vital space for resistance and militancy,” they said. “Her evolution from the intimate, familial narrative of ‘Four Daughters’ to the urgent historical testimony of ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ demonstrates a rare mastery. We are honored to celebrate a director who does more than observe reality; she interrogates it with a courage that is as aesthetically bold as it is deeply ethical.”
Previous recipients of the Celebration of Lives Award award include Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola, Radu Jude, Olivier Assayas, Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola.
The 22nd edition of the Biografilm Festival will run in Bologna June 5-15