The Sea by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, which tells the story of a Palestinian boy trying to get to Tel Aviv, was labelled a “slap in the face” by Culture Minister Miki Zohar
September 17, 2025 14:11
Israel's national film awards are facing a funding cut after this year's best picture winner, a film from the perspective of a Palestinian boy, was labelled a "slap in the face" to Israeli taxpayers by the Culture Minister.
The Sea by Shai Carmeli-Pollak tells the story of 12-year-old Khaled, played by Mohammed Gazaoui, as he makes his way to the Tel Aviv coast after his school bus is stopped at an IDF checkpoint.
The drama took home gongs in a number of categories at this year's Ophir awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay for writer Carmeli-Pollak and Best Actor for Gazaoui.
But Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar rubbished the film, saying: “The fact that the winning film depicts our heroic soldiers in a defamatory and false light while they are fighting and risking their lives to protect us is sadly no longer surprising.”
"There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the embarrassing and detached annual Ophir Awards ceremony.
“This absurdity, in which Israeli citizens are still paying from their own pockets for the disgraceful Ophir Awards that represent less than one percent of the people of Israel, will come to an end because I have decided to stop it.
“Starting with the 2026 budget, this pathetic ceremony will no longer be funded by taxpayers’ money. Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay from their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers. No more.”
Zohar has previously criticised other films for their portrayal of the conflict, particularly those he considers unduly favourable to the Palestinian cause, and said he would remove funding for projects that perpetuate “the enemy’s narrative”.
Assaf Amir, the chair of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, which runs the Ophir Awards, responded: “Especially in the harsh reality we live in, as the never-ending war in Gaza takes a terrible toll in death and destruction, the ability to see the ‘other’, even if he is not of your own people, gives small hope”.
“In the face of the Israeli government’s attacks on Israeli cinema and culture, and the calls from parts of the international film community to boycott us, the selection of The Sea is a powerful and resounding response.”
And, in an acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actor award read on his behalf at the ceremony, Khalifa Natour, who plays the central character’s father, said: “Following the army’s entry into Gaza and the genocide that frightens me greatly, I cannot find words to describe the magnitude of the horror, and everything else becomes secondary to me. Even cinema and theatre.”
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