Perspective Film Series:
The Zone of Interest (2023), dir. Jonathan Glazer
April 12
5:30 PM | Dome Theatre
The commandant of Auschwitz and his wife strive to build a dream life for their family in a house next to the camp. Off-screen sounds – gunshots, screams, industrial machinery – constantly intrude onto their lives, creating a disturbing contrast between normality and mass murder. By withholding graphic imagery, the film examines how extreme violence can coexist with ordinary life through denial, compartmentalization, and moral indifference. By coolly observing the everyday lives of those complicit in unimaginable crimes, The Zone of Interest confronts us with the chilling normality that underpins an unforgivable brutality.
Country: UK, Poland, US
105 minutes, in German, Polish, and Yiddish with English subtitles
Disclaimer: This film contains some difficult subject matter, including racism and strong references to violence, including sounds, which may be triggering for some viewers.
FREE for members. Non-members: $10—your ticket to this screening includes admission to Contemporary Calgary. Our galleries are open from 12-5 PM for viewing prior to attending the program.
About Perspective Film Series
Curated by associate curator Muriel N. Kahwagi, the 2026 edition of Perspective is conceived as a sustained meditation on disaster in its broadest and most resonant terms. While ecological catastrophe remains a central point of reference, the series extends beyond literal scenarios of environmental collapse or speculative visions of planetary ruin, approaching disaster as a condition that permeates both collective structures and private lives, unfolding across social, political, and emotional terrains. In this sense, disaster is understood not only as a single event, but as an ongoing state – slow, uneven, and often normalized through systems of power, habit, and belief. The films in this series examine how moments of crisis reshape perception and behaviour, revealing fractures in meaning, and reflecting on the ways in which hope may persist long after the moment of rupture has passed.
About the Curator
Muriel N. Kahwagi ((she/her)) is a writer and curator, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of collecting and archiving the performative; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. In 2023, she was the TD Curatorial Fellow at Art Windsor-Essex, and a curator as part of Vtape’s Curatorial Incubator, v.19. She is currently the Assistant Curator at Contemporary Calgary, and a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival.
