A number of distinguished filmmakers called for a ceasefire in Gaza and support for the victims of the war, during the 2024 BAFTA Awards ceremony, which was held on Sunday.
The BAFTA Awards are among the most famous and influential international film awards, and are important for the British film industry and a platform for celebrating distinguished artistic works and creative talents.
During the ceremony, film producer James Wilson called for support for the victims of the war in Gaza, and veteran director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Lafferty carried in front of the cameras a banner demanding an end to the war in Gaza, according to the Standard newspaper.
After taking the stage, James Wilson, producer of The Zone of Interest, said: “A friend of mine wrote to me after seeing the film that he couldn’t stop thinking about the walls we build in our lives, and behind which we choose not to look.”
He added: “These walls are not new before, during or since the Holocaust. It seems unequivocally clear now that we must care about the innocents being killed in Gaza or Yemen, in the same way we think about the innocents being killed in Mariuple (in Ukraine) or in Israel.
The crowd cheered after Wilson’s speech after receiving the award for Best Non-English Language Film.
“Thank you for recognizing a film that asks you to think in those spaces,” the producer concluded.
“selective empathy”
Before the awards ceremony, Wilson spoke to the British news agency PA Media, saying: “It is clear that there are things happening in the world and in Gaza that are a stark reminder of a kind of selective empathy, and that there seem to be groups of innocent people being killed and we do not care much about them.” “Compared to other innocent people. This seems very clear.”
“Honestly, actually, because we get asked about it so much, I think it happens all the time,” he added.
He added: “In the nine years that we have been making the film, things have continued to happen this way, especially the migrant crisis in 2016 when refugees were coming from North Africa and Syria and bodies were washing up on the beaches.”
He continued: “The difference between how our political elite responded to this compared to refugees from Ukraine, shows that there are these walls, and I feel that is reflected in the way people, especially young people, receive this.”
The film The Zone of Interest revolves around the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz during World War II. The novel on which the film is based deals deeply with issues of identity, humanity, and violence.
Veteran director Ken Loach and veteran screenwriter Paul Lafferty also appeared before the cameras behind a banner during the ceremony calling for an end to the war in Gaza, according to the Standard newspaper.
Loach (87 years old) was attending the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall when he raised a banner reading “Gaza… Stop the massacre” during a photo with other filmmakers in front of the photographers.
The Stop the War Coalition, a British group founded on September 21, 2001, after the September 11 attacks, posted: “Ken Loach, Paul Lafferty and others had a message for the BAFTA Awards this evening: Stop shooting now!”
The film production company Sixteen Films, founded by Loach, reposted the banner with the caption: “Ceasefire now.”
The BAFTA Awards are presented at a ceremony in which film and television makers from all over the world gather to celebrate artistic achievements and honor winners in multiple categories such as Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director and many other categories.
