Director of Holocaust Film ‘Zone of Interest’ Condemns War in Gaza in Oscars Speech

Director Jonathan Glazer condemned the “occupation” and bombing of Gaza during his Oscar acceptance for his Holocaust-era film The Zone of Interest.

On Sunday night, Glazer’s film won the Academy Award for best international feature. The film depicts the mundane lives of a Nazi family living near the Auschwitz death camp. The film was inspired by the 2014 novel by Martin Amis under the same name.

When the director accepted the award, he chose to highlight the ongoing military conflict between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza region. Recently, the U.S. military has attempted to airdrop aid to civilians in Gaza as the humanitarian situation worsens with famine and lack of medical supplies.

Glazer noted that he hopes the film will inspire and bring attention to other humanitarian conflicts in the world.

“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,” he said.

He continued:

Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst…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 the 7th in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims, of this dehumanization, how do we resist?

Watch the full clip above via ABC and the 2024 Oscars.