As members of the global film community Petting to boycott Israeli film institutions over the war in Gaza, the country’s Oscar Award entry for international function, “The Sea”, raises controversy that will surely follow it during the Oscar season.
The film is a drama written and directed by Shai Carmeli pollk and tells the story of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy from the West Bank (played by Muhammad Ghazawi) who disappears in Israel on the way to visit the sea. Earlier this week won the best picture at the Ophir Awards, Israel’s equivalent of Oscars, and automatically became the country’s Oscar post for International function.
But after the victory, Israeli Minister of Culture Miki Zohar announced that he would draw government funding for Ophirs, run by the Israeli Film and Television Academy. Calling the movie “Pro-Palestinian” wrote Zohar on Instagram, “this great absurdity that citizens of Israel still pay out of their own pockets for the shameful ceremony for the Opir award, representing less than one percent of the Israeli people-is over.”
This came after Hannah Einbinder’s call for ”Free Palestine“At Emmys last week, some pulled some Ire on the internet. And it followed the film workers for the Palestinian petition signed by 4500 people – including Emma Stone, Ava Duvernay, Andrew Garfield and Joaquin Phoenix – to boycott Israeli institutions that are “involved in genocide” in an attempt to “end our complicity in Israel’s gaza”, ” According to the group’s statement. (September 16, a UN investigation said that Israel’s military measures in Gaza qualified as war crimes under the 1948 Public Crime, but the report did not go so far as to consider them genocide.)
In an illustration of how filled and complicated this issue is that boycotts would include the organization that funded “the sea.”
In short, the film enters the season in the middle of a storm of disagreement. But judging from the story, “the sea’s” rapid subjects are more likely to help their chances with academic voters than to hurt it. “I think relevance will help,” said an insider working on Oscar campaigns in the International Film category. “Academy membership in general is very interested in marketing works by filmmakers that pay attention to world crises. Specifically, this category and the document category always seem to make a kind of statement.”
It is important that best international elements are decided by academy members over all branches, a group that does not deter films with a political bend, either current or historical. Since 2021 it has nominated “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, “I’m still here”, “The Zone of Interest”, “io Capitano” “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Argentina, 1985” and “Quo Vadis, Aida?”
And last year, another controversial film that struggled with the war in Gaza, “No other country“Weather out his share of public battles before won the Oscar Award for Best Documentary. Directed by the Palestinian-Israeli collective Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the Erbären as an unpleasant. It ended self-distribution in the United States when no company dared to pick it up. play Followed, with Zohan among the voices that require a boycott.
This year, in addition to “The Sea”, Oscar voters will also fight with Tunisia’s entry, “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, a Docudrama written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania showing the true story of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in 2024 during Israeli forces in Gaza. It won Silver lion in Venice.
The Israeli Film and TV Academy did not immediately respond to Thewrap’s request for comment on “The Sea.” But as first reported by AmountThe Organization’s President, Assaf Amir, Stated on Wednesday, “In the Face of Attacks by Minister in Israel’s Government on Israeli Cinema, and calls from the International Film Community to Boycott us, the Selection of this movie is a resvent Born Out of Collaboration Between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis, has been Chosen to represent Israel in the Oscar Competition. “
Representatives from the Israeli Film Fund also did not immediately respond to Thewrap’s request for comment. But the organization’s mission, whose long history of supporting acclaimed films includes “Beyond the Walls”, “Waltz with Bashir”, “Ajami” and footnote “, says Mass:” The Israeli Film Foundation encourages creative freedom and creates a rich platform that gives the screen a lot of stories that helps to express the cultural wealth. “
