CBFC Denied Permission to Screen The Voice of Hind Rajab?
Tunisian Film on Paliestinian Child killed in Israel Gaza war orally denied release by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the film’s India distributor Manoj Nandwana said
The Voice of Hind Rajab, the Oscar-nominated Tunisian film about the death of Hind Rajab, the five year old Palestinian child who died during the Israel-Gaza war has been denied release by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the film’s India distributor Manoj Nandwana said.
The team was expecting a release around mid-March, ahead of this year's Oscar Awards having screened it for the CBFC officials for censorship approval in February this year. The movie was nominated for Oscars in the best international feature film category, alongside It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value, but did not win.
A report published by Hollywood trade publication Variety said that Nandwana was told by a CBFC member that “if it gets released it would break up the India-Israel relationship,” and hence was not cleared for release in India.
“I told them: the India-Israel relationship is so strong that it’s idiotic to think this movie will break it,” Nandwana appealed to the officials.
India-Israel ties have strengthened significantly under the governments of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, with Modi becoming the first Indian PM ever to visit Israel in 2017. Netanyahu reciprocated the visit in 2018 and Modi became the first Indian leader to address the Israeli legislature — the Knesset — in February.
Nandwana added that despite the film being released in the US, UK and other countries with diplomatic relations with Israel, “[CBFC] wants to censor it anyway”.
Hind Rajab’s story and the movie based on it has been a persistent flashpoint between pro-Palestine andpro-Israel activists. Written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, it depicts the death of Rajab and her family in January 2024, as they were attempting to escape bombing in Gaza City. Controversially, the film uses the actual audio of Rajab’s panicked phone conversation with Palestinian Red Crescent Society after her car came under fire by the Israel Defence Force.
