The Film Experience

by Nathaniel

Flawless, which is called "The Prom" at home stars Stav Strashko (the one behind the wheel) who is a trans actress

The Ophir nominations were recently announced in Israel and we thought we'd share their Best Picture nominees. The winner of the Ophir -- which will be announced September 6th -- is almost always submitted for the Oscar's Foreign Language Film category. There are two LGBTQ films in the mix this year. Thanks to our loyal Israeli reader Yonatan for alerting us to the nominees. They're after the jump along with some stats about Israel's history with the Oscars and in US arthouse movie theaters...

The Cakemaker (9 nominations) This is about a German man who comes to a bakery in Jerusalem to meet the wife of his dead lover. It's written and directed by Ofir Raul Graizer and stars Zohar Shtrauss who you may have previously seen in the tank drama Lebanon or the gay Orthodox drama Eyes Wide Open.
Fig Tre e (5 nominations) This one is in the Amharic language and takes place in Ethiopia. Written and directed by Alamork Davidian making her feature debut. It's a drama about a a teenage Jewish girl during the Ethiopian civil war and her Christian boyfriend.
Flawless (12 nominations) The Ukranian trans woman Stav Strashko is up for the Best Actress prize (a first at the Ophirs) in this film about a high school prom -- it's actually called "The Prom" in Israel so I'm not sure why the new title. As far as I can tell it doesn't have an IMDb page yet but given the nomination count it might be the frontrunner for the prize. If it wins and is Oscar-submitted we have to then speculate about whether Oscar will go for two films in a row about trans women? But that would be a good problem to have, wouldn't it?
Laces (8 nominations) Directed by Jacob Goldwasser about an aging man with a special needs son
Noble Savage (10 nominations) This is from Marco Carmel and is about a teenage boy with an eating disorder.

Though the Jerusalem Post is reporting that Virgins (which screened at Tribeca) and Red Cow (which screened at Berlinale) are also up for Best Picture, I see no evidence of this at the Ophir site. I'm using Google Translate so there could be errors (Ophir information is weirdly hard to come by - even wikipedia doesn't list nominations, just winners). Those films do have a nomination here and there, though, including for their performances.

Shira Haas in "Broken Mirrors"

We should also note that Shira Haas, the bewitching young actress who made a well-liked festival debut with Princess (2014) and was terrific in a key supporting role in the Jessica Chastain film The Zookeeper's Daughter is up for Best Actress in a film called Broken Mirrors so we'll be keeping an eye out for that film at the fall festivals, too.

Israeli cinema has had a great run in the past two decades, both with Oscar and with American audiences. So a bit of trivia for you to close out.

ISRAEL'S OSCAR NOMINEES

Klaus Kinskiand Sybill Danning were part of the international cast of "Operation Thunderbolt" about the raid on Entebbe (a true story which has inspired several films now)

1964 Sallah
1971 The Policeman
1972 I Love You Rosa
1973 The House on Chelouche Street
1977 Operation Thunderbolt
1984 Beyond the Walls
2007 Beaufort
2008 Waltz With Bashir
2009 Ajami
2011 Footnote

They've yet to win the Oscar making them the Most Nominated Country To Have Never Won. They used to share that "honor" with Poland but Poland finally got a win with Ida a few years ago.

It's interesting that in the 00s they repeated their 70s trick of three consecutive nominations. Their submission last year, Foxtrot, made the December finalist list but was not, in the end, nominated so they'll have to wait a little longer for nomination #11.

THE BIGGEST ISRAELI HITS FROM 2000-2018 AT THE US BOX OFFICE
The year by the title represents the year they came out in the US though sometimes that's a year later than their awards year. We've included some names because the same (wonderful) actors and directors keep popping up.

The Band's Visit

The Band's Visit (2008) $3 million
This was not eligible for Oscar's foreign film category due to too much of the film being in English, the only common language between the Arabic and Hebrew speaking characters. The film starred the late great Ronit Elkabetz. It's beautifully judged musical adaptation (with a book by recent TFE guest Itamar Moses) just swept the Tony awards earlier this month. Wonderful film but then you probably already knew that!
Walk on Water (2005) $2.7 million
Directed by Eytan Fox and starring Lior Ashkenazi. Good movie.
Waltz With Bashir (2008) $2.2 million
This animated/doc/narrative hybrid film won the Golden Globe for foreign film and was also nominated for the Oscar.
Footnote (2012) $2 million
Directed by Joseph Cedar and starring Lior Ashkenazi
Fill the Void (2013) $1.7 million
Religious drama directed by Rama Burshstein
Late Marriage (2002) $1.6 million
Starring Ronit Elkabetz and Lior Ashkenazi in an erotic drama about a divorcee and her bachelor boyfriend. My personal favorite Israeli film. Such a corker. It was Oscar submitted but Oscar foolishly passed it by. (Curiously the year before they passed on this film they passed on In the Mood for Love from Hong Kong so they must have something against instant-classic sensual romantic dramas.)
The Wedding Plan (2017) $1.4 million
Religious romantic comedy directed by Rama Burshtein. You can watch it on Amazon Prime or Hulu. It's good.
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2015) $988k
Courtroom drama/bio, written, directed and starring Ronit Elkabetz. Review and TFE's interview with Ronit & her brother Shlomi
NEW🔺The Cakemaker (2018) $665 as of August 16th, 2018
Ajami (2010) $622k
Foxtrot (2018) $618k
Directed by Samuel Maoz and starring Lior Ashkenazi
Broken Wings (2004) $421k
Lebanon (2010) $368k
A tense war drama set entirely in a tank. Directed by Samuel Maoz

Proving that movies don't have to be long to be wonderful, Yossi & Jagger is just 65 minutes long.
and two notable runners up to this list...
Yossi & Jagger (2003) $267k the popular queer military drama directed by Eytan Fox which got a sequel in 2013 though that one didn't do as well. Bethlehem (2014) $201k which was another Oscar submission but it didn't quite break out with Oscar or the public.