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Rico Polk/PMC
Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar acceptance speech after Area of interest won the Oscar for Best International Film has drawn condemnation from more than a thousand Hollywood actors, creatives and executives in recent days, but there are also some in the entertainment industry who have spoken out in support of Glazer and his speech. (For full details on Glazer’s speech and the backlash, click here.)
For context, here’s Glazer’s full speech:
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 to the Polish Film Institute, the Stead Museum for their trust and guidance, and to my producers, actors and collaborators.
All our decisions were made to reflect and confront ourselves in the present, not to say look what they did then, but look what we do now.
Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It has shaped our entire past and present. Right now, we stand here as men refuting their Judaism and the Holocaust held hostage by an occupation that has driven so many innocent people into conflict.
Whether it is the victims of October, whether it is the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist? Alexandria, the girl who shines in the movie as she did in life, decided to do it. She dedicated this to her memory and her resilience. Thank you.
Yesterday, She said Star Zoe Kazan shared a series of tweets that read in part, “a little surprised that anyone watching the hotspot could be shocked by what Glazer said at the Oscars… a movie so rigorously determined not to let its audience to escape from feelings or from oneself. -congratulations, that instead turns a mirror, asking us to look at ourselves and think… that the person who made that film can ask the same thing of us while accepting an award for his work… it makes me so sad that this can even be considered a political stance” .
Among others who spoke in support was I am a virgo creator Boots Riley. “Shout out to Jonathan Glazer,” Riley wrote in X. He praised Glazer for, among other things, “speaking out against the atrocities in Gaza and saying that his film is about today.”
The band Massive Attack also weighed in, saying: “Jonathan Glazer is a filmmaker of the highest integrity, skill and bravery. A filmmaker who thoroughly researches his subject and weighs his artistic judgments with great care and deep humanity. That care, judgment and humanity led to the conclusions of his speech. Solidarity.”
Directors Asif Kapadia and Jesse Peretz also expressed support for Glazer’s speech, according to Variety.
Perhaps the most surprising response was published by the director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Dr. Piotr MA Cywiński, on that organization’s official X page.
“In his Oscar acceptance speech, Jonathan Glazer issued a universal moral warning against dehumanization,” the statement begins. “His goal was not to descend to the level of political discourse. Critics expecting a clear political stance or a film solely about the genocide did not grasp the depth of his message. The area of interest It is not a film about the Shoah. It is primarily a profound warning about humanity and its nature.”
Further away someone has also started a petition on Change.org of support for Glazer. As of this writing, he has 176 signatures.