On January 29th, 20204, a five-year-old girl in Gaza named Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli forces.

Hind and her family were fleeing Gaza when their car was shelled, killing her uncle, aunt, and eventually all four of her cousins.

Hind was stranded and forced to hide in that vehicle among her dead relatives for hours, while speaking on the phone with the Palestine Red Crescent, who attempted to coordinate her rescue.

I'm Nadir Gough. I cover culture news and the Oscars Race for Slate.com.

And there's one contender I couldn't get out of my head,

the voice of Hindra Job and its director, Kaltur bin Hania.

There was something about hearing her voice for the first time

that I couldn't go on with my daily life.

Eventually, both Hind and the paramedics who tried to save her were killed by Israeli forces

using American munitions. After their bodies were found, 12 days later, investigators discovered that the

car in which Hind was hiding had been shot 335 times. All the characters in the voice of

Hind Rajab are based on real people, real rescue workers, and Kautzer worked with them to

painstakingly recreate the hours they spent on the phone with Hind.

She began the project less than a year after Hind was killed.

I was about to start another movie that I've been working on for several years, an ambitious project.

I put it aside and I dedicated myself to the voice of Hindra Jab, because of what

happened to her, because of her voice, and because I couldn't do anything else.

Not doing anything is like being complicit for me in a way.

So there was, yeah, it's true, this kind of emergency.

The voice of Hindrajab received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.

Now, it's up for an Oscar for Best International Feature Film.

But there was a moment when Kowitzer was unsure if American audiences would be able to see it.

...