Israel’s Culture Minister Miki Zohar has said the government will freeze funding for the country’s top film awards after the prize for best picture went to a film he described as “pro-Palestinian.”
The Ophir awards, Israel’s equivalent of the Oscars, gave its 2025 best film prize to Hayam, a story about a 12-year-old Palestinian boy from the occupied West Bank who dreams of travelling to Tel Aviv to see the sea.
The film, directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, also won five other awards, including best actor for Mohammad Ghazaoui, making him the youngest-ever recipient.
Winning the best film award automatically qualifies Hayam as Israel’s submission to next year’s Academy Awards in the international feature category.
“After the pro-Palestinian film Hayam, which discredits our heroic soldiers as they fight to protect us, won the Best Film award at the shameful Ophir 2025 ceremony, I decided to stop funding the ceremony with Israeli citizens’ money,” Zohar said in a statement, adding the funding cut will take effect next year.
At the awards ceremony, several artists dressed in black and called for an end to the carnage in Gaza.
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