MUSIC+SOUND AWARDS 2024 WINNER SPOTLIGHT

BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A FEATURE FILM

Best Sound Design in a Feature Film

The Zone Of Interest

Sound Designer: Johnnie Burn at Wave Studios, London

Sound Mixer: Tarn Willers 

Audio Engineers: Simon Carroll, Max Behrens + Brendan Feeney

Director: Jonathan Glazer 

Production Company: A24

When filmmaker Jonathan Glazer sent sound designer Johnnie Burn the script for his Holocaust drama, ‘The Zone of Interest’, a year before production even began, Glazer laid down clear guidelines for the role sound was going to play: He did not want to share images that audiences knew and he wasn’t going to show the familiar, devastating scenes of the German concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. He wanted to reflect everything through SOUND.

The Oscar-nominated film centers around Commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Huller) who live a dream life with their children in a seemingly-perfect home — except that the house and garden border a concentration camp.

The film was approached two ways: Johnnie Burn says “We saw it as being two films: one you see, and one you hear. We made the family drama film without any sound, and Jon and I spent five months deciding where to apply the sound of the camp.”

His MASA was one of many awards for Johnnie. ‘The Zone Of Interest’ was one of this year's leading awards contenders, with BAFTA and Oscar wins specifically for sound. 

Congratulations once again. The sound plays such a vital role in conveying this film’s chilling message.

Visit Johnnie’s site HERE