Jonathan Glazer in London on Feb. 4, 2024.Photo:Karwai Tang/WireImage
Karwai Tang/WireImage
While accepting the Oscar alongside producer James Wilson for best international feature, Glazer, 58,said in part, “Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst.”
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” the letter reads, in part.
Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller inThe Zone of Interest(2023).Courtesy of A24
Courtesy of A24
The letter continues, saying that Glazer’s speech “gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film.”
Separately,Zone of Interestexecutive producer and co-financier Danny Cohen, said on last Thursday’s episode of theUnholypodcast, “I just fundamentally disagree with Jonathan on this,” adding, “My support for Israel is unwavering.”
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“I think the war is tragic and awful, and the loss of civilian life is awful, but I blameHamasfor that. And I think any discussion of the war without saying that, for me, lacks the proper context that any discussion about war, from my perspective, should have,” Cohen said.
Jonathan Glazer (center) accepts the award for Best International Feature at the Oscars in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024.PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
For Cohen, “It’s really important to recognize [that Glazer’s speech] upset a lot of people, and a lot of people feel upset and angry about it.”
“And I understand that anger, frankly,” he added during the podcast interview.
The Zone of Interestwas nominated forfive Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture,winning Best International Feature and Best Sound.
source: people.com
