![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/algem.png\")
<\/a>Israeli Culture Minister Cuts Funding for Film Awards After Palestinian Drama Wins Top Prize, Chosen for Oscars Submission<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\nShiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar said his ministry will pull state funding for Israel\u2019s Ophir Awards, which is the Israeli equivalent to the Oscars, after it awarded a top honor to a film that \u201cdefames\u201d Israel\u2019s \u201cheroic soldiers,\u201d he announced on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n At this year\u2019s Ophir Awards ceremony on Tuesday night, \u201cThe Sea\u201d won best picture, which automatically makes the film Israel\u2019s submission for the 2026 Oscars in the category of best international feature film. The drama, directed and written by Shai Carmeli-Pollak and produced by Baher Agbariya, also won best screenplay, best actor for the 13-year-old Palestinian Muhammad Gazawi, best supporting actor for Khalifa Natour, and best original score. The movie, filmed in Arabic and Hebrew, marks Gazawi\u2019s first acting role.<\/span><\/p>\n The Ophir Awards are voted on by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, a nonprofit organization that is the Israeli version of the US-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It has more than 1,000 members, including filmmakers, producers, content creators, and actors.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Sea\u201d follows a 12-year-old Palestinian boy named Khaled, from a village near Ramallah, who gets the opportunity to go the beach for the first time in his life on a class trip to Tel Aviv. When he is forced to return home at a military checkpoint, while his classmates continue on to the beach, Khaled decides to risk his life and dodge Israeli authorities on his solo journey to reach the ocean. \u201cThe Sea\u201d premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival this summer and received support from the Israeli Film Fund.<\/span><\/p>\n In a statement<\/a> on X, Zohar said that after the \u201cpro-Palestinian\u201d film, \u201cwhich defames our heroic soldiers while they fight to protect us,\u201d won the award for best film at the \u201cshameful\u201d Ophir Awards on Tuesday night, he decided to discontinue funding for the ceremony.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDuring my tenure \u2013 the citizens of Israel will not pay out of their pockets for a disgraceful ceremony that spits on the heroic IDF soldiers,\u201d he added. \u201cThis great absurdity, that Israeli citizens are still paying out of their pockets for the disgraceful Ophir Awards ceremony, which represents less than one percent of the Israeli people \u2013 is over. Starting from the 2026 budget, this pathetic ceremony will no longer be funded by taxpayers\u2019 money. The citizens of Israel deserve for their tax money to go to more important and valuable places.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Several winners on stage at the Ophir Awards ceremony, including Carmeli-Pollak and Agbariya, sported a black T-shirt with a message that called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war and said in Hebrew and Arabic \u201ca child is a child.\u201d Others wore shirts that called for the return of the hostages abducted by Hamas-led terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and talked about the devastation taking place in Gaza during the ongoing war. Acclaimed Israeli director Uri Barbash received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony, and in his acceptance speech, he condemned actions of the Israeli government and Zohar, pleaded for an end to the war, and called for solidarity between Jews and Arabs.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is our sacred duty to bring all the hostages back to their families immediately,\u201d he said. \u201cTo end the accursed war and replace the \u2018divide and rule\u2019 regime that has declared war on Israeli society!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Other movies that competed alongside \u201cThe Sea\u201d for best film at this year\u2019s Ophir Awards included Nadav Lapid\u2019s \u201cYes,\u201d \u201cDead Language\u201d \u2013 which made its world premiere<\/a> at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and is an expanded version of the Oscar-nominated short film \u201cAya\u201d \u2013 and Natali Braun\u2019s \u201cOxygen,\u201d which is about a single mother fighting to pull her son out of military service and his deployment to Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n Israel has had 10 nominations in the category of best international feature film at the Oscars but has yet to win. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will announce on Dec. 16 a shortlist of 15 contenders for the 2026 Oscar for best international feature film. The final list of nominations will be announced on Jan. 22, 2026, and the 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em> Israeli Culture Minister Cuts Funding for Film Awards After Palestinian Drama Wins Top Prize, Chosen for Oscars Submission Shiryn Ghermezian A scene from \u201cThe Sea.\u201d Photo: The Israeli Academy of Film and Television Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar said his ministry will pull state funding for Israel\u2019s Ophir Awards, which is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124307"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124351,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124307\/revisions\/124351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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A scene from \u201cThe Sea.\u201d Photo: The Israeli Academy of Film and Television<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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