Culture Minister Miki Zohar threatens to end all state funding for film industry amid awards spat

Culture Minister Miki Zohar threatens to cut off all state funding to the film industry amid an ongoing spat over his attempt to stage an alternate movie awards ceremony.

“I will work — already tomorrow — to cancel the Film Law and to end funding the film industry to the tune of NIS 130 million a year, and they can make the films they want to, the way that they want to, on their own dime, and not with public money,” Zohar says in an interview with the right-wing Channel 14.

Zohar says the decision is being made after figures in the industry are trying to push a widespread boycott of the alternative film awards he set up in protest of the prizes handed out at this year’s Ophir Awards, which is run by the Israeli Academy of Film and decides Israel’s Oscar submission each year.

The minister was outraged after the top award this year was given to the film “The Sea,” about a Palestinian boy. The film was submitted to the Oscars for consideration as best foreign film, but did not make the short list.

Zohar accuses some in the film industry of trying to pressure those who had initially agreed to take part in the alternative awards ceremony to drop out amid a number of withdrawals in recent days.

“There are situations in life when people need to know when to stop — and it seems like in this situation, those trying to boycott the ceremony did not know when to stop,” says Zohar.

He accuses these unnamed figures of being “violent extremists” who are “threatening” those who were nominated for awards at the newly established “Israeli Film Awards,” and causing them to back out.