The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer. Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, the film focuses on the life of German Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who live with their family in a home in the "Zone of Interest" next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Christian Friedel stars as Rudolf Höss alongside Sandra Hüller as Hedwig Höss. Development began in 2014 around the publication of the Amis novel, which was partially based on real events. Glazer opted to tell the story of the real Hösses rather than the characters they inspired and conducted extensive research into the family, as he sought to demystify the perpetrators of the Holocaust as "mythologically evil". The project was formally announced in 2019, with A24 confirmed to distribute. Filming took place primarily around Auschwitz in mid-2021. Additional filming took place in Jelenia Góra in January 2022. The Zone of Interest premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2023 and was theatrically released in the United States on 15 December 2023, receiving acclaim and grossing over $52 million. It received five nominations (including Best Picture) at the 96th Academy Awards, winning Best International Feature (the first for a non-English British film) and Best Sound; won the Grand Prix at Cannes and three British Academy Film Awards, becoming the first film to win both Best Film Not in the English Language and Outstanding British Film; received three nominations at the Golden Globe Awards; and was named one of the top five international films of 2023 by the National Board of Review. It has been regarded as one of the greatest films of the 2020s and the 21st century.