Oscars 2024: ‘The Zone of Interest’ director Jonathan Glazer addresses Israel-Gaza conflict in victory speech
During his victory speech at the Oscars 2024 in the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category, The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer addressed the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza.
Glazer’s film beat competition from Io Capitano, Perfect Days, Society of the Snow and The Teacher’s Lounge to scoop ‘Best International Feature Film’, marking the first British movie to be victorious in this category.
The Oscar-winning film explores the story of Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who live next to the Auschwitz concentration camp and the dehumanisation which occurred during World War II.
In light of current conflict in the Middle East, Glazer said in his speech: “Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst, it shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation that has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”
The British director continued: “Whether the victims of October 7th or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all of the victims of this dehumanisation, how do we resist?”
Glazer also took time in his speech to pay tribute to Alexandria, a Polish woman he met who helped inspire the film. He said: “The girl who glows in the film as she did in life, I dedicate this to her memory and her resistance.”
The filmmaker’s comments about the conflict come after hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors gathered outside of the ceremony, leading to a dispersal order being issued by local authorities.
They state the aim of their march was to “disrupt the Academy Awards” and expose “retaliation against anyone in the film industry who speaks out against Israel’s atrocities and war crimes.”
Additionally, Poor Things star Ramy Youssef and singer Billie Eilish were among the artists to express their support for a ceasefire in Gaza on the red carpet by wearing pins bearing a Artists4Ceasefire symbol. The collective is comprised of more than 400 individuals and are calling for “an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost.”
Youssef told Variety on the red carpet of his decision: “We’re calling for immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza. We’re calling for peace and lasting justice for the people of Palestine. It’s a universal message of, ‘Let’s stop killing kids. Let’s not be part of more war.’ No one has ever looked back at war and thought a bombing campaign was a good idea.”
In a review of The Zone of Interest, Far Out wrote: “The Zone of Interest is a painful examination of the way Nazi families affectlessly ignored the atrocities that were going on around them, in the case of the Hösses, within earshot of the screams and cries that penetrated the Auschwitz air through day and night. There’s almost always a constant rumble of gunfire and hum of machinery and gas chamber workings to feign obliviousness underneath the Höss household, but Glazer keeps the visual barbarity of the camp persistently out of view”.
Watch Glazer’s victory speech for ‘Best International Feature Film’ below.
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