Israeli government to pull funding for film awards after Palestinian story triumphs

The Israeli government has announced that it will stop funding the country’s national film awards, after a film about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank trying to visit the ocean for the first time was widely honoured and officially selected as the country’s nominated film for consideration at the Oscars.

“The Sea”, which is an Arabic-language film rather than Hebrew, won multiple prizes at the Israeli Film Academy’s Ophir Awards, including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay and Original Music. In the film, Khaled, a 12-year old boy from Ramallah, is turned covertly enters Israel to try and reach the sea after having been turned away from a checkpoint by IDF soldiers, with his father attempting to find him without losing his job or being taken into custody.

Following the awards ceremony, Miki Zohar, Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports, announced that he would be withdrawing government funding for the awards, stating: “there is no greater insult to the citizens of Israel than the annual embarrassing and disconnected Ophir Awards. The fact that the winning film portrays our heroic soldiers in a defamatory and false manner while they risk their lives to protect us no longer surprises anyone.”

The Ministry claimed that the film “presents the Palestinian perspective and depicts the IDF and Israel in a negative light”

The chair of the film academy, Assaf Amir, responded by saying: “Film selections and awards are determined by Academy members, all of whom are filmmakers and cultural professionals, who choose the best works of Israeli cinema based on artistic excellence, creative freedom, and freedom of expression.”

He went on to say that he was proud that “I am proud that an Arabic-language film, created through collaboration between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis, will represent Israel at the Oscars.

“Israeli cinema once again proves that it is relevant and responsive to a complex and painful reality. This is a sensitive and empathetic film, attentive to human beings in general and to the film’s protagonist in particular, a Palestinian boy whose only wish is to see the sea.”

Earlier this month, more than 1,300 filmmakers, including Hollywood A-listers such as Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton, Olivia Coleman and Emma Stone, signed up to a cultural boycott of Israeli institutions and companies  “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

Accepting a lifetime achievement award, director Uri Barbash criticised both the actions of the Israeli government and the Hollywood boycott.

“The sanctity of life, the preservation of life, and human dignity must have no ethnic or geographical boundaries”, he said.

“It is our sacred duty to bring all the hostages back to their families. Immediately. To end the accursed war and replace the ‘divide and rule’ regime that has declared war on Israeli society!”

Muhammad Gazawi, aged 13, won Best Actor for his role in The Sea, becoming the youngest ever winner of the prize. Speaking in Arabic, he said: “I really enjoyed filming the movie. I wish for all the children of the world, everywhere, to have the same opportunity – to live and dream without wars.”