Michel Hazanavicius , the Oscar-winning director of “The Artist” whose animated film “ The Most Precious of Cargoes ” competed at this year’s Cannes and was subject to some backlash due to its depiction of Auschwitz victims, has penned an op-ed denouncing rising antisemitism in France. Hazanavicius, who is the Jewish son of Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe, rhetorically asked in French newspaper Le Monde, “Why do I have the impression that more and more people have an issue with the simple fact of addressing the genocide against Jews?” “Why do I have the impression that as a member of a minority like any other, which has had its share of tragedies, I’ve become a member of the dominant caste, the figurehead of oppression, imperialism and injustice? As if being Jewish had become something really murky, vaguely suspect, possibly detestable. How could I have become so evil in such a short time?” asked Hazanavicius.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who shed light on the 1999 war in Chechnya in his film “The Search,” said he also felt that “more and more people were less and less concerned about antisemitism” amid the current war in Gaza. “And why, when Netanyahu is put on trial, do I hear too often the trial of Israel, or even the trial of the Jews, instead of simply putting the far right on trial, however Israeli it may be?” Hazanavicius continued, adding that he also has the feeling that “Jews are the coolest enemies to hate (..
.) much cooler.