The Zone of Interest' Producer Highlights Gaza War at BAFTAs 2024
'The Zone of Interest' producer James Wilson highlighted the war in Gaza during his speech after accepting the award for the Best Film not in English at the BAFTAs 2024.
In his acceptance speech, Wilson said, "It seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way we think about innocent people being killed in Mariupol or Israel."
'The Zone of Interest' won three awards in total at the BAFTAs 2024, which included Best British Film and Best Sound.
'The Zone of Interest' is a Holocaust-set drama film, which features a group of people living near the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
The film shows these characters blocking out the horrors happening at the concentration camp and leading normal lives despite the atrocities happening close to them.
With this subject matter of the film, Wilson compared the film's themes to the treatment of the ongoing war in Gaza.
He said, "A friend wrote [to] me, after seeing the film the other day, that he couldn’t stop thinking about the walls we construct in our lives which we chose not to look behind."
Wilson ended his speech with, "Thank you for recognising a film that asks you to think in those spaces."
Another BAFTA nominee Ken Loach also highlighted the war in Gaza at the awards ceremony when he brought a sign to the red carpet that read, "Gaza: Stop the massacre”.
🍿 Veteran director Ken Loach, who is bringing his refugee film The Old Oak to the ceremony, stood next to a ‘Gaza: Stop the Massacre’ sign, held by the film’s writer Paul Laverty on the red carpet.
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) February 18, 2024
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Gaza at Every Award Show in 2024
In 2024, award shows have constantly become a space to highlight the war in Gaza and call for a ceasefire.
'The Crown' star Khalid Abdalla called for a ceasefire on the Emmys red carpet with a 'Never Again' statement written on his palm, while Scottish artist Annie Lennox ended her Grammys performance with a statement, "Artists for Peace, Peace for All".