At the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, British director Jonathan Glazer won Best International Feature Film for "The Zone of Interest," a Holocaust drama that explores the banality of evil through a family living a calm domestic life next to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Glazer, who is Jewish, has repeatedly made parallels between the Holocaust era and today’s events in Gaza. He used his acceptance speech to condemn the frequent dehumanisation taking place and Israel’s weaponisation of Jewishness. “All our choices are made to reflect and confront us in the present.
Not to say, ‘Look what they did then,’ rather ‘Look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst.” He continued: “Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack in Gaza.”
Notable figures like Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo, and Ramy Youssef, displayed their solidarity by wearing red pins as part of the Artists for Ceasefire movement. The start of the ceremony was also delayed due to pro-Palestine demonstrators blocking access on the main roads leading to the venue, causing a standstill of limousines and forcing some attendees, including stars like Lily Gladstone, to exit their vehicles and walk.
