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The Zone of Interest 2023
The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer. The movie adapts the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, which draws from actual occurrences. It follows the story of Rudolf Höss, the German Auschwitz commandant, and his wife Hedwig, who reside with their family in a house located within the "Zone of Interest" adjacent to the concentration camp. Christian Friedel portrays Rudolf Höss while Sandra Hüller plays Hedwig Höss.
The development started in 2014 when the Amis novel was published. The project evolved after Glazer chose to focus on the real Höss family instead of fictionalized versions, doing thorough research into their lives and aiming to portray the Holocaust's perpetrators without mythologizing them as purely evil. The film’s official announcement happened in 2019, with A24 handling distribution. Principal photography occurred around Auschwitz in mid-2021, with supplementary scenes shot in Jelenia Góra during January 2022.
The Zone of Interest debuted at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2023, followed by a U.S. theatrical release on 15 December 2023. It earned widespread praise and grossed over $52 million. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, winning Best International Feature Film (marking the first for a non-English British movie) and Best Sound. It also took the Grand Prix at Cannes and won three British Academy Film Awards, becoming the first to win both Best Film Not in the English Language and Outstanding British Film. Additionally, it garnered three Golden Globe nominations and was named among the top five international films of 2023 by the National Board of Review. Critics have considered it one of the finest works of the 2020s and 21st centuries.
Cast
- Christian FriedelRudolf Höss
- Sandra HüllerHedwig Höss
- Johann KarthausKlaus Höss
- Luis Noah WitteHans Höss
- Nele AhrensmeierInge-Brigit Höss
- Andrey IsaevBronek
- Stephanie PetrowitzSophie
- Martyna PoznanskiMarta
- Zuzanna KobielaAniela
- Imogen KoggeHedwig's mother
- Julia PolaczekAleksandra Bystroń-Kołodziejczyk
- Wolfgang LamplHans Burger
Crew
- Director
- Jonathan Glazer
- Writer
- Jonathan Glazer
- Producer
- James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska
- Cinematography
- Łukasz Żal
- Editing
- Paul Watts
- Music
- Mica Levi
Details
- Production
- Access Entertainment, Extreme Emotions, Film4, JW Films, Polish Film Institute
- Distributor
- A24, Gutek Film (Poland)
- Box office
- $52.8 million
