The Zone Of Interest producer: Gaza conflict reminds us of ‘selective empathy’

Ewa Puszczynska, Sandra Huller, Jonathan Glazer, Christian Friedel, and James Wilson, attending the Zone of Interest premiere during the 76th Cannes Film Festival (Doug Peters/PA)

The Zone Of Interest producer James Wilson has said what is “going on in the world, in Gaza” reminds people of “selective empathy”.

Wilson spoke to the PA news agency on the Baftas red carpet about whether the film about the Holocaust had produced a conversation about war and violence today.

He said: “I had a friend that texted me the other day, he said he couldn’t stop thinking about the walls we build in our daily lives that we don’t choose.

James Wilson, Sandra Huller, Jonathan Glazer, Christian Friedel, and Ewa Puszczynska, attending the Zone of Interest premiere (Doug Peters/PA)

“There’s obviously things going on in the world, in Gaza, that remind us starkly of the sort of selective empathy, that there seems to be groups of innocent people being killed that we care about less than other innocent people.

“And that seems so clear.

“Frankly, actually, because we get asked about that a lot, I think that’s always happened.

“In the nine years that we were making the film, things kept happening like that, you know, whether it was… the migrant crisis in 2016 when refugees were coming from north Africa and Syria and bodies washing up on beaches.

“And the difference between how our political elite, how we respond to that compared to refugees from Ukraine, say, there are obviously these walls and I feel that reflected back in the way people, particularly young people, are receiving it.”

The film is nominated for multiple Baftas including outstanding British film.