[Editor's Note: I asked our sometime correspondent in Israel, Yonatan, to bring us up to date on Israel's Oscar submission possibilities. They've been scoring nominations frequently of late. Alas my single favorite Israeli movie of all time (Late Marriage) was rejected by Oscar voters in its year - Nathaniel]
Can "Filling The Void" fill one Oscar spot in Foreign Film this year?
Ten Israeli movies have been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category, four of them in the last five years. That list includes one indisputable landmark: Waltz with Bashir (2008) which is the first and only animated film, despite frequent submissions from all around the world, to score a nomination in this category.
Israel's Oscar History
With links to Netflix pages -- all but one of them are available for rental!
1964 Sallah
1971 The Policeman
1972 I Love You Rosa
1973 The House on Chelouche Street (instant watch!)
1977 Operation Thunderbolt
1986 Beyond The Walls
2007 Beaufort (instant watch!)
2008 Waltz With Bashir
2009 Ajami (instant watch!)
2011 Footnote
Still, without an Oscar win, Israel is the Peter O' Toole / Deborah Kerr of the foreign film category with the most never-winning nominations (just ahead of Poland's 9/0 record and Mexico's 8/0). After so many loses, a win seems perpetually just around the corner...
But even a nomination could be hard to come by in a year of already apparent stiff competition. (Love and Denmark's A Royal Affair are the arguable early leaders)
The Ophir Awards (the Israeli Oscar equivalent) named their "Best Picture" nominees this week. The winner each is year is automatically submitted as the country's Oscar bid. The nominees are...
FILLING THE VOID
Which will compete at the Venice Film Festival takes place in a ultra-orthodox Jewish community. It's the story of a woman who struggles with her impending marriage to a certain man due to circumstances beyond her control.
THE WORLD IS FUNNY -->
This ensemble film leads the pack with 15 nominations (one in every category). It's a story about three estranged siblings (a sister and two brothers) living in the same city. Each of them have an interesting dramatic storyline but there are a lot of useless subplots, and one of the brothers stories involves a famous Israeli comedian, with several references to his old comedy acts. (That's the type of cultural referencing that can hit big at home but doesn't transfer well abroad.)
GOD'S NEIGHBORS
Avi and his friends are a self-appointed neighborhood watch, violently dealing with those who break the laws of the Sabbath or simply piss them off.
ROCK THE CASBAH
This drama about four soldiers who position themselves on top of an Arab family's roof in Gaza in 1989, where a member of their unit was killed has a terrific first act. The rest is pretty good as well.
THE BALLAD OF THE WEEPING SPRINGTIME
It's a sort of Western with musical instruments instead of guns (and with no horses). A man sets out on a journey to put together a band to sing to an old friend before he dies. The old friend's son joins the band. [The movie isn't nominated for Best Direction, which really dampens its chances of winning Best Movie.]
JOE+ BELLE
You can rent or buy this low budget girls-on-the-run comedy (which stars the writer/director Veronica Kedar) here. They're marketing it as "the lesbian Thelma & Louise"
Joe and Belle are on the lam
Which will be submitted for Oscar?
The only threat to The World is Funny's dominance at the Ophirs might be God's Neighbors. That's partly because voters know that their pick for Best Movie becomes the automatic Oscar submission and World's chances of an Oscar nomination are slim. I don't know how many of the Ophir voters truly make these calculations, but they really should change the rules to prevent automatic submissions for Oscar consideration. The four most nominated countries (France, Italy, Germany and Spain) understand this; any country's Best Film isn't necessarily their Best Hope at the Oscars.
Have many of Israel's past Oscar nominees have you seen?