Baftas 2024: ‘The Zone of Interest’ wins ‘Outstanding British Film’
Jonathan Glazer’s historical drama The Zone of Interest has been awarded the ‘Outstanding British Film’ Bafta, beating the likes of Ken Loach’s The Old Oak and Emerald Fennel’s Saltburn to the prize.
The film sees Christian Friedel star as the German Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and Sandra Hüller as his wife Hedwig as they try to build an idyllic life a stone’s throw from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Taking to the stage to accept the award, producer James Wilson joked about the perceived confusion of winning both ‘Outstanding British Film’ and ‘Best Film Not In The English Language’: “Maybe that’s the way in because this was a film made as a coming together of people in the UK. It was shot entirely in Poland everyday with a crew of largely Polish people and with a largely German cast”.
Earlier in the ceremony, Wilson urged support for the people of Gaza, exclaiming: “Those walls aren’t new from before or during or since the holocaust, and it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way think about innocent people killed in Mariupol or in Israel”.
Produced by James Wilson and Ewa Puszczyńska and based on Martin Amis’ novel of the same name, The Zone of Interest fended off further competition from Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers.
Far Out’s review of The Zone of Interest wrote, “The Zone of Interest is naturally shocking and atrocious; there’s no denying that, but there seems to be something missing: a confident and forthright moral stance on such horrific events.”
The review continued, “Perhaps that omission of steadfast conviction, though, is intended to show that there is no credible reason for what happened at Auschwitz nor the ignorance of those who allowed it to occur. Still, Glazer seems to hesitate to believe in the strength of his story alone.”
The Zone of Interest joins a list of prestigious films that have won the ‘Outstanding British Film’ Bafta over the last few years, including The Banshees of Inisherin, Belfast and Promising Young Woman.
Where can I watch ‘The Zone of Interest’?
The Zone of Interest is still in UK cinemas following its earlier US release on December 15th. However, the film will not be available to watch on the big screen for much longer. As of yet, the movie’s distributor, A24, has not announced a digital release either in the UK or the US.
Normally, A24 move their releases onto streaming platforms around a month after their theatrical releases, although this has not yet occurred. The Zone of Interest can be pre-ordered on iTunes and Prime Video.
Check out the trailer for The Zone of Interest below.
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