Film screening: The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest (2023) is a historical drama written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, loosely based on Martin Amis's 2014 novel of the same name. Glazer's streamlined adaptation differs from the novel in many ways, including omitting various characters, plot lines, and language. The film, set in 1943, focuses on the life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig. The Zone of Interest examines the day-to-day routine of the Höss family, who occupied a villa in the "Zone of Interest" next to the largest Nazi concentration camp.

Sally Shafto is an Associate Professor at Framingham State University and a scholar of French New Wave cinema and international art films. Her publications include editing and translating the Writings of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet (New York: Sequence Press, 2016) and the upcoming translation of Chris Marker’s early writings on film (1948–1955), edited by Steven Ungar and published by the University of Minnesota Press.