‘Zone of Interest’ Director Jonathan Glazer Says ‘We Stand Here as Men Who Refute Their Jewishness’ to Protest Hamas War

(Cheering and Applause)

GLAZER: “Thank you so much. I’m going to read, I’m afraid. Thank you to the Academy for this honor and to our partners A24 Films for access and the Polish Film Institute, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for their trust and guidance. To my producers, actors, collaborators, all our choices were made to confront this in the present, not to say, ‘Look what they did then,’ rather ‘Look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization 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 which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October —
(Cheering and Applause)
Whether the victims of October 7th in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
(Applause)
Aleksandra Bystron-Kolodziejczyk, the girl who glows in the film as she did in life, chose to. I dedicate this in her memory and her resistance. Thank you.”