Development
Close Your Eyes Hind was written, directed, edited and produced by Syrian-Dutch filmmaker Amir Zaza, [3] [1] based on the Killing of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip on 29 January 2024, which also killed six of her family members and two paramedics coming to her rescue. [4] Zaza produced the film along with Abdul Rahman Abdulfattah and Mattar Productions, [1] in partnership with Al Jazeera's digital platform Al Jazeera 360. [5] [1] Tonko Bossen was the director of photography, and the score was composed by Rami Al Maghrbel. [1] The film had the support of Rajab's mother. [6]
Zaza followed the news about Rajab's death, and the image of her smiling face and the wreath of flowers on her head (from a photo that circulated at the time) haunted him in his dreams. [7] 10 years prior to working on the film, Zaza had fled from Syria to the Netherlands to escape the war. [7] He later studied at the Netherlands Film Academy and became a filmmaker. "I am not a military and not a politician. I'm a filmmaker. I had to do something from my position," Zaza said about his decision to make Close Your Eyes Hind. [7] Zaza called his college friend, a cameraman, and said, "I'm making a movie about Gaza and we're going to work on it unpaid, are you going to join us?", and his friend agreed, along with three other people, although it was difficult to get funding for the film at the time because even the mention of the word "Gaza" was enough to stop a project and only Israel's side was heard. [7] Zaza then started working on the screenplay and collected all the articles about Rajab's death and studied them. He also contacted Rajab's mother and other members of her family, as well as the employee from the Palestine Red Crescent Society who spoke to Rajab on the phone and witnessed her last moments. [7]
For 10 months, Zaza gathered volunteers to work on the film. It started with 4 people and grew into a team of about 40 people; all willing to cooperate voluntarily. [7] Zaza was also allowed to use a professional studio in Amsterdam for free for the shooting. [7] However, Zaza still needed a lot of money for set decoration, costumes, visual effects and transport. He approached around 13 production companies with no success. Zaza then turned to organizations that stand up for Palestinian people. [7] Some time later, he received the first 2000 euros from one organization, followed by smaller contributions from other people, but that still was not enough. Zaza then decided to crowdfund the project. They needed around 17.000 euros to fund the film, but ended up raising 25.000 euros. Over 600 people contributed to the crowfunding, [8] mainly Dutch people, and some of them were of Arab origin. [7]
Zaza opted for fiction based on the true story of Hind Rajab rather than a documentary. Some scenes, such as the phone calls, were filmed exactly like they happened, but for other scenes, Zaza used his imagination. [7] Zaza said he wanted to make the viewer feel like they are sitting next to Rajab in the car, and sympathize with her thoughts and feelings. "Did she maybe dance or sing in the car before this tragedy? Was she hopeful? Scared? Was she crying? What did she think about death?", he explained. [7] Zaza said that Rajab symbolizes all the children in Gaza who have been killed by the Israeli army since October 2023. "Hind has become a symbol for all those children who called for help while the world looked away," Zaza said. [7]
The film's total production budget was €500.000. [2] Zaza said that half of the proceeds will go to Rajab's family, who are still in Gaza and want to leave but cannot afford to get out of there. [2]
