5 Minutes
Politics and prizes collide at the Ophir Awards
The Israeli Academy of Film and Television's Ophir Awards — Israel’s highest film honors — took a politically charged turn this year when the Arabic-language drama The Sea won the top prize for best film. Directed by Shai Carmeli Pollak and produced by Baher Agbariya, the movie about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank who risks everything to reach a Tel Aviv beach also picked up awards for screenplay, best actor (13-year-old Mohammad Gazawi), best supporting actor (Khalifa Natour) and best original score. As the Ophir best film winner, The Sea now automatically qualifies to represent Israel in the Oscars’ International Feature Film race.
The victory has prompted a strong reaction from Israel’s culture and sports minister, Miki Zohar, who announced plans to cut government funding for the Israeli Film Academy — the body that runs the Ophirs — beginning in 2026. Zohar argued that the film’s depiction of the military was offensive to soldiers and citizens. The move marks a rare and significant threat to one of the country's key cultural institutions and raises broader questions about arts funding under political pressure.
What happened at the ceremony
The ceremony itself was visibly charged: many winners wore black T-shirts bearing anti-war messages and photographs of hostages, and several speakers urged an end to the conflict in Gaza. Asaf Amir, chairman of the Israeli Film and Television Academy, framed the Academy’s selection as both an artistic choice and a response to mounting pressures — from government officials on one side and calls to boycott Israeli film bodies from parts of the international film community on the other. Last week nearly 4,000 industry figures, including high-profile names from Hollywood, signed a petition urging a boycott of Israeli film institutions they said were complicit in wartime actions.
Industry context and international fallout
The controversy sits at the intersection of art, politics and culture funding. The Israel Film Fund, the country's largest local source of film financing, has also been criticized by officials for supporting films labeled as 'anti-war' such as The Sea and Nadav Lapid's Yes, which screened at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Those attacks have intensified debates about whether public film financing should be conditioned on perceived patriotism or ideological alignment.
The choice of an Arabic-language film to represent Israel at the Oscars echoes earlier moments when Israeli cinema reached across linguistic and cultural lines — for example, international sensations like The Band's Visit, which combined Arabic and Hebrew in a cross-cultural story, or the outspoken politics of Nadav Lapid's films. Such selections reflect a growing appetite in Israeli filmmaking for stories that complicate national narratives and foreground marginalized voices.
Beyond domestic headlines, The Sea’s path to the Academy Awards will likely be watched closely. An Ophir win usually helps a film’s international profile, but the charged political backdrop and calls for boycotts could complicate festival bookings, awards campaigning and foreign distribution.
"This moment illustrates how national awards can become proxy battlegrounds for larger social debates," says film critic Anna Kovacs. "Regardless of the politics, the Academy's choice highlights a maturing of Israeli cinema toward intimate, multilingual stories that challenge neat narratives. The real test will be whether audiences abroad judge the film on its artistic merits or through the prism of geopolitics."
Voices from the stage
On accepting his award, Mohammad Gazawi expressed a simple, human wish: "I wish for all the children of the world, everywhere, to have the same opportunity — to live and dream without wars." The line drove home how the film’s emotional core — a child's longing for normalcy amid conflict — is part of what resonated with Academy voters.
Whether the funding cut proceeds, how the Israel Film Fund and other backers will respond, and how international festivals and distributors react remain open questions. For now, The Sea’s win has amplified a longstanding conversation about cinema's role in national identity, cultural funding and the responsibilities of film institutions in times of conflict.
A final note: the controversy around The Sea is unlikely to end the artistic impulse among Israeli filmmakers to tell difficult stories. It may, however, reshape how cultural institutions navigate politics while trying to preserve creative independence.
Source: variety
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