This is one of the strong speeches of the 96th Academy Awards. Director Jonathan Glazer – winner of the best foreign film award for “The Area of Interest” on Sunday night – denounced on stage the situation in Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas continues. This British Jewish director, whose film focuses on the horror of the Holocaust, targeted the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. “We refuse to allow our Jewishness and the Holocaust to be misused for an occupation that has caused so much suffering for so many innocent people,” he said.
“Whether it is the victims in Israel on October 7, or the ongoing attack in Gaza, they are all victims of dehumanization,” the theme of his film, he added, after being cut off by applause from the room. “The choices are made to make us think and react in the present, not so that we say in a few years look what they did, but so that we say now look what we are doing,” said he also declared in the preamble to the speech he was reading.
During the ceremony, other stars like Mark Ruffalo and Billie Eilish wore a red badge calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The two French actors of the film “Anatomy of a Fall” – prize for best original screenplay – Swann Arlaud and Milo Machado-Granet wore a pin in the colors of Palestine on the red carpet. Likewise, demonstrators gathered in front of the Dolby Theater – where the Oscars were held – shortly before the ceremony, according to images broadcast by the media The Hollywood Reporter.
The actors of the film Anatomy of a Fall Swann Arlaud and Milo Machado-Graner arrived on the red carpet of the #Oscars2024 with the Palestinian flag on their jacket. 👏
Thank you to them for this support for the Palestinian people who are suffering a real genocide in Gaza. 🇵🇸🕊️ pic.twitter.com/wV1LWxvQt9
— Wcrt L (@L_Wcrdt) March 10, 2024
The same day, American President Joe Biden estimated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “done more harm than good to Israel”. “He has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue attacking Hamas. But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives lost because of the actions taken,” demanded Joe Biden.
Tribute to Alexei Navalny
The film “20 Days in Mariupol” about the siege of the Ukrainian city during the Russian invasion won the Oscar for best documentary. “I am probably the first director on this stage to say that I would have preferred never to make this film, if in return Russia had not attacked Ukraine, nor occupied our cities,” said the journalist from Associated Press Mstyslav Chernov.
As for the traditional tribute to deceased stars, it began with Alexeï Navalny. Opponent N.1 to Vladimir Putin, who died on February 16 in detention in Siberia, was at the center of the film “Navalny”, winner of the 2023 Oscar for best documentary.