Film Awards
Gaza and Ukraine war topic at the Oscars
Hundreds of people demonstrated near the Oscar gala calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. photo
© Etienne Laurent/AP/dpa
At the Oscars, some celebrities wear pins calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and there are protests in front of the theater. A film from the Ukraine war is named best documentary.
“All of our (cinematic) decisions were made to make us think in the present,” said Glazer, 58. “Not to say: ‘Look what they did back then’, but rather: ‘Look what we are doing today.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads in its worst form, it has shaped our entire past and present.”
Now they stand here and defend themselves against the fact that “their Jewishness and the Holocaust” are being exploited for an occupation that has led to conflict for so many innocent people. “Whether they are the victims of October 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, everyone is a victim of this dehumanization.” Glazer, who comes from a Jewish family, dedicated the trophy to the resistance fighter Aleksandra Bystroń-Kołodziejczyk, who appears in his film.
Pins and demonstrations
Others also commented on the Gaza war. On the red carpet, some attendees, including singer Billie Eilish and actors Ramy Youssef, Mark Ruffalo and Ava DuVernay, wore red pins to call for a ceasefire.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered near the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, as the New York Times wrote. The newspaper cited police information that there were at least three different demonstrations. Several hundred participants gathered at the largest one.
Academy remembers Kremlin critic Navalny
The war in Ukraine was also remembered during the gala. The work “20 Days in Mariupol” won the Oscar for best documentary film. The film by Mstyslaw Chernow, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath documents the experiences of AP journalists during around three weeks in the Ukrainian port city when it was besieged by Russian forces in early 2022. “I can’t change history,” Chernov said in his acceptance speech. “I cannot change the past. But all of us together… among you some of the most talented people in the world, we can ensure that history is recorded correctly and that the truth prevails and that the people of Mariupol and those Those who sacrificed their lives will never be forgotten.”
During the Oscar gala, filmmakers who died last year are traditionally remembered. This time a video of regime critic Alexei Navalny, who died in Russian custody in February, was also shown. The film “Nawalny” won the Oscar for best documentary in 2023.