The 82nd Venice Film Festival drew to a poignant and politically charged close on Saturday, September 6, 2025, as the world’s oldest film festival prepared to unveil its coveted Golden Lion award. This year’s edition, more than ever, became a crucible for both artistic excellence and urgent real-world issues, with filmmakers and audiences alike drawn into the orbit of global conflict, personal struggle, and the perennial allure of Oscar glory.
Venice’s Lido was abuzz as juries, led by American director Alexander Payne, made their final deliberations among a formidable lineup of 21 films. The competition field was stacked with heavyweight contenders: Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite” delivered a harrowing warning about nuclear weapons and the machinery of war; Guillermo del Toro’s lush “Frankenstein” reimagined Mary Shelley’s tale with Oscar Isaac as the tormented Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his tragic creation; Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” offered a darkly comic take on white-collar desperation; and Dwayne Johnson pivoted from blockbuster action to raw drama in “The Smashing Machine,” portraying MMA legend Mark Kerr’s battle with addiction and pain.
Yet, it was Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab” that seized the festival’s collective conscience. According to the BBC, no film this year was more talked about or left audiences more “distraught.” The docudrama recounts the true and heart-rending story of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed during the Israel-Gaza war in January 2024. The film’s innovative structure—an immersive blend of drama and documentary—places viewers in the nerve center of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, 52 miles from Gaza. There, actors portray the real-life dispatchers and volunteers who, in the film and in reality, tried desperately to save Hind as she was trapped in a car with her deceased relatives, pleading for help over the phone.
What sets “The Voice of Hind Rajab” apart is its use of actual audio recordings from Hind’s calls, lending the film an immediacy and emotional force that left many in the audience openly weeping. “Please come get me,” Hind’s real voice implores, the line crackling with fear and hope. “I’m scared.” As the minutes tick by, the volunteers on the other end—voiced by Motaj Malhees, Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, and Amer Hlehel—veer between hope and despair, stymied by bureaucratic and military obstacles. The Red Crescent had an ambulance just eight minutes away, but Israeli military approval for a safe passage was required, and all negotiations had to be routed through the Red Cross and other intermediaries. The film, as noted by the BBC, “conveys so powerfully the pain of wanting to change a situation which is agonizingly out of your hands.”
Kaouther Ben Hania, herself no stranger to the Oscars—having been nominated for “The Man Who Sold His Skin” in 2020 and “Four Daughters” in 2024—crafted a film that, according to Deadline and BBC, received a record-setting 23-minute standing ovation at its Venice premiere. The film’s executive producer roster reads like a who’s who of Hollywood: Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer, and Alfonso Cuarón all lending their support and star power to the project. The Hollywood Reporter and AFP both highlighted the film’s impact, with many critics and festivalgoers tipping it as a favorite for the Golden Lion and a shoo-in for next year’s Academy Award for Best International Feature.
The festival’s political undercurrents were impossible to ignore. As reported by AFP, the Gaza conflict dominated conversations on and off the red carpet. Approximately 2,000 cinema professionals signed an open letter urging organizers to denounce Israel’s offensive, while thousands of protesters marched to the festival entrance on Saturday, underscoring the event’s role as a platform for both artistic and political expression. Director Ben Hania revealed that, following the film’s premiere, her team received thousands of intimidating hate messages—a testament to the film’s raw power and the fraught climate in which it was released.
Other major contenders for the Golden Lion included Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia,” a provocative kidnapping drama starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons; Park Chan-wook’s biting satire “No Other Choice”; and Dwayne Johnson’s “The Smashing Machine,” which marked a dramatic departure for the actor best known for his action roles. Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite” also drew critical acclaim, reinforcing Venice’s reputation as a launchpad for Oscar hopefuls. According to the Associated Press, both Lanthimos and del Toro have previously won the Golden Lion, with their respective films “Poor Things” and “The Shape of Water” later taking home top Oscars.
Venice’s influence on the awards season has been undeniable in recent years. Since 2014, the festival has hosted four films that went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture—“The Shape of Water,” “Birdman,” “Spotlight,” and “Nomadland.” Last year’s lineup included Oscar-winning titles like “The Brutalist” and “I’m Still Here.” Yet, the festival is not immune to surprises: Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut “The Room Next Door” won the previous Golden Lion with an 18-minute ovation but ultimately received no Oscar nominations.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” stands out not only for its artistic merit but for its unflinching portrayal of the cost of conflict. The film’s final moments shift from dramatization to documentary, showing interviews with Hind’s mother and home videos of Hind herself, playing on the beach—a stark, heartbreaking reminder of the real child at the center of this tragedy. The BBC’s review concluded, “No other film this year will get more people talking, or more people crying.”
As the festival’s closing ceremony began at 1700 GMT, speculation swirled over which film would claim the Golden Lion and which stories would continue to reverberate through awards season and beyond. Whether “The Voice of Hind Rajab” takes home the top prize or not, its impact—on audiences, on the industry, and on the global conversation—was already undeniable.
The 82nd Venice Film Festival, with its blend of cinematic artistry and real-world urgency, reminded everyone that the power of film lies not just in storytelling, but in bearing witness to the world’s most pressing truths.
