The film, which follows a boy from the occupied West Bank who dreams of traveling to Tel Aviv to see the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, won Best Film at the Ophir Awards, Israel’s equivalent of the Oscars.
Israel’s Culture Minister, Miki Zohar, has threatened to cut government funding for the country’s national film awards after The Sea, a story about a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, won the top prize at this year’s Ophir Awards.
The film, which follows a boy from the occupied West Bank who dreams of traveling to Tel Aviv to see the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, won Best Film at the Ophir Awards, Israel’s equivalent of the Oscars.
By winning, The Sea automatically becomes Israel’s entry for Best International Feature Film at next year’s Academy Awards, according to BBC.
In a statement posted on X, Zohar condemned the decision, “There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the embarrassing and detached annual Ophir Awards ceremony.
“Under my watch, Israeli citizens will not pay from their pockets for a ceremony that spits in the faces of our heroic soldiers.”
Local media reports indicate it is unclear whether the minister has the legal authority to withdraw funding from the awards.
The film also secured several other top prizes, including Best Actor for 13-year-old Muhammad Gazawi, who became the youngest ever winner in the history of the Ophir Awards.
Gazawi plays Khaled, a 12-year-old who is stopped at an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint during a class trip and denied entry into Tel Aviv.
He later sneaks into Israel in a bid to reach the sea, while his father, an undocumented laborer, desperately searches for him.
Accepting the prize, producer Baher Agbariya said the film represented “every child’s right to live in peace, a basic right we will not give up on.”
Zohar doubled down in his criticism, describing the ceremony as “embarrassing and detached.”
But Assaf Amir, chair of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television, defended the jury’s decision, saying. “As the never-ending war in Gaza takes a terrible toll in death and destruction, the ability to see the ‘other’… 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.”
The row comes amid intensifying global scrutiny of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
More than 65,000 Palestinians, nearly half of them women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel launched the war in Gaza after the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which left about 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage.
On Tuesday, a United Nations commission of inquiry accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report, calling it “distorted and false.”
The backlash also extends to the global film industry.
Earlier this year, thousands of Hollywood professionals signed a pledge vowing not to collaborate with Israeli film institutions they accused of being “implicated in genocide.”
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