British director Jonathan Glazer will compete for the Cannes Film Festival's top prize for the first time this year with his Auschwitz drama "The Zone of Interest," whose premiere on Friday evening drew celebrities including Cate Blanchett and Carla Bruni.
German actor Christian Friedel plays Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, where over 1.1 million people were murdered in the largest of the concentration camps and extermination centres built by the Nazis in occupied Poland.
Sandra Hueller, star of Germany's 2017 Oscar nominee for best foreign-language feature "Toni Erdmann," plays Hoess' wife, Hedwig.
"The Zone of Interest," which will be distributed by A24, is Glazer's first feature since 2013's "Under the Skin" starring Scarlett Johansson and was shot entirely in Auschwitz.