Legendary Hungarian director László Nemes spoke plainly of “the orgy of anti-Semitism sweeping the West.”
In a new interview with The Guardian The acclaimed director discusses bringing his latest World War II project — a biopic about French Resistance hero Jean Moulin — to the Cannes Film Festival, but much of the work is focused on what Nemes described as a “militant, moralistic, self-righteous” film looming in Hollywood.
Mongoose won an Oscar in 2016 for his film Son of Saulbegins by reflecting on the reactions to the award-winning film, as well as the 2025 film orphan. The former follows a day and a half in the life of an Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, while the latter revolves around a young Jewish boy’s search for his missing father, as he instead uncovers the truth about his mother’s Holocaust survival.
Nims tells the UK publication about it Son of SaulAward success: “I don’t even think it will be a success [Oscar] Today’s shortlist. Because of the politicization of cinema, because anything considered Jewish now…no one would touch it with a 10-foot pole.”
orphanwhich he says was “ignored” at last year’s Venice Film Festival, failed to pick up the Oscar for Best International Feature, and has yet to secure a US distribution deal: “You should be able to talk about these things without being ostracized,” he continues, saying he feels “to some extent” ostracized by the industry: “Even some of the response[to] [toorphan]From the media smell from an ideological point of view.
About the widespread boycott of Israeli film companies – last year pledged to object to the war in Gaza and names such as Olivia Colman, Ayo Edebiri, Mark Ruffalo, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone and 1,300 others emerged – Nemes says The Guardian He believes it is an “anti-humanitarian retreat.”
He adds: “Because it has not been identified as such, I think it is very effective in spreading. Anti-Semitism has been one of its very powerful vectors… The Jew has always been [cast as] This kind of internal enemy, I believe now [the idea of] The Jew as the West’s internal enemy had reached European anti-Semitism proportions before National Socialism took hold [Nazi] Party.” When asked by journalist Jonathan Friedland if he thought anti-Semitism was now at its worst since Nazi Germany, Nemes replied: “I think it’s getting there.”
He describes it as “obsession with the Jews” and says in reference to: orphan“Our struggle to find a distributor,” people said [would] Ask me about Gaza, instead of asking me about the movie. [They ask] If you sign this or that petition.”
“It’s tiring to hear the Hollywood upper echelon lecture us morally,” the director adds. “You know, from the pools and the luxury homes in the valley and the Hollywood Hills. Do I really have to listen to millionaires lecturing the world about morality? I don’t think anyone wants that.”
At the end of the interview, Nimes calls out fellow Jewish director Jonathan Glazer, best known for directing the Oscar-winning film Area of interest. At the 2024 Academy Awards, British director Glazer said in his acceptance speech that he and producer James Wilson “stand here as men refuting their Judaism and the Holocaust, hijacked by an occupation that has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza.”
Nemes, who criticized Glazer for a speech he gave that year, reflected on how he felt about that day. “Making a film about the Holocaust imposes on its maker the need for responsibility,” he told Friedland. “I didn’t feel like he was responsible at all. I thought he wanted to please that upper class of Hollywood with a good, righteous line of thought… I don’t think he understands anything about the reality of the region, and yet he feels the need to do it. I think that’s very pretentious, very condescending.”
He concluded that filmmakers should focus on making good films and resist “the insidious and destructive power of the studio system.”
