Government cuts off funding for Ophir awards after film about Palestinian boy wins

Following the Best Feature win at Tuesday night’s Ophir Awards ceremony for “The Sea,” about a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar said Wednesday that he will halt the ministry’s funding for the Ophir Awards and the 2026 ceremony.

The film by Shai Carmeli-Pollak is about Khaled (Mohammed Gazaoui), a Palestinian boy on his way to visit the sea in Tel Aviv for the first time in his life as part of a class trip. At an IDF checkpoint, the soldiers deny him entry. Khaled then sneaks into Israel and embarks on a journey to the sea, while his father (Khalifa Natour) tries to trace his whereabouts, putting himself at risk of being arrested and losing his job.

The film won the Ophir for Best Feature, while Carmeli-Pollak received the Ophir for Best Screenplay. Gazaoui won Best Actor, the youngest winner in the history of the awards; Natour received the Best Supporting Actor award; and Avi Bellili won the Ophir for original music.

As the Ophir winner for Best Picture, the film will go on to represent Israel in the nomination process for the Academy Awards’ International Feature Film Category, the industry’s practice since 1991.

It was produced with support from the Israel Film Fund, a public fund that is required to support artists without regard to their politics. A spokesperson for Film Workers for Palestine, the group behind a new international boycott of Israeli film institutions, told Variety this week that the Israel Film Fund meets its threshold for complicity.

The group’s pledge, which has drawn more than 4,500 signatures, calls for a boycott of Israeli film institutions “that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

It names the Jerusalem Film Festival, where “The Sea” premiered in August, as among the institutions to boycott. It does not specifically name the Ophir Awards, but they have long benefited from government funding.

Zohar said in a statement on Wednesday that the film presents the Palestinian perspective, casting IDF soldiers and the State of Israel in a negative light.

“There is no greater slap in the face of Israeli citizens than the embarrassing and detached annual Ophir Awards ceremony,” he said. “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.”

“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,” wrote Zohar. “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.”

Responding to Zohar’s statement, the Israeli Academy of Film and Television responded that “The Sea” is sensitive toward humanity in general, and toward its protagonist in particular, a Palestinian boy whose only wish is to reach the sea.

“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,” wrote Assaf Amir, chairman of the academy.

“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,” wrote Amir, adding that he was proud that an Arabic-language film, born of collaboration between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis, will represent Israel in the Oscars competition.

Zohar is viewed by many as being overly censorious of Israel’s film industry, regularly attempting to cut funding or support for any films that appear critical of the government and its policies.

He wasn’t invited to last year’s Ophir Awards ceremony. He was invited this year, however, as part of the academy’s commitment to the freedom of expression, according to an academy spokesperson.

The other award-winning films at the 2025 awards ceremony included “Nandauri” by Eti Tsiko, about an Israeli lawyer returning to her Georgian roots. Tsiko won Best Director and Neta Riskin won Best Actress for her role performed in fluent Georgian, with Shai Goldman winning an Ophir for Cinematography, Inbal Shuki for Costume Design and Orly Ronen for Makeup.

The winner of the Ophir for Best Short Narrative Film, “Dalia’s Tea Casts a Shadow on Mount Fuji,” by Oren Gerner, is also eligible for Oscar consideration, now that the Ophir award in that category has been officially recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the US.

Until now, Israeli shorts could only qualify for Oscar consideration by winning at certain festivals, including the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa Film Festival and Docaviv, or by screening theatrically in the US.

Other winners included Best Supporting Actress for Uri Avinoam in “Because You’re Ugly,” Sharon Engelhart’s portrait of a female-led family, with Best Casting going to Rita Borodiansky.

Nadav Lapid’s “Yes,” about a pianist commissioned to compose a new national anthem after October 7, won Best Editing for Nili Feller and Best Soundtrack for Moti Chefetz and Aviv Eldema.

The Ophir for Best Documentary Feature went to “Letter to David,” director Tomer Shoval’s homage to Hamas hostage David Cunio, his brother and fellow hostage Ariel Cunio, and their family.

The ceremony included the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to director Uri Barbash, who assailed Zohar in his acceptance speech.

JTA contributed to this report.