Israel’s minister of culture has vowed to cut funding for the country’s film academy and its annual awards show after a movie about a Palestinian boy’s dream of seeing the ocean won big.
On Tuesday night in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Academy of Film and Television awarded the 2025 Best Picture award to “The Sea” at the Ophir Awards, known as the “Israeli Oscars.”
The film, directed and written by Shai Carmeli Pollak and produced by Baher Agbariya, follows a young boy’s road trip from his home of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
It is now slated to represent Israel at the Oscars in the International Feature Film category.
“The Sea” also won four other awards, including best actor for 13-year-old Muhammad Ghazawi, who became the youngest ever recipient of the award. Khalifa Natour, who plays the boy’s father, won best supporting actor.
During the ceremony, several filmmakers and nominees called for an end to the war in Gaza while others criticized the Israeli government.
“This film is about every child’s right to live in peace, a basic right we will not give up on,” Agbariya said. “We are all equal. Peace and equality are not an illusion, but a possible choice here and now.”
Carmeli Pollak, the director, declined to comment when reached by CNN.
It comes as the war in Gaza was on full display at this week’s Emmys, where actors including Hannah Einbinder and Javier Bardem called for a ceasefire. Over 1,000 actors and directors have vowed not to work with Israeli film institutions.
For British screenwriter David Farr, signing the pledge is personal.
“As the descendant of Holocaust survivors, I am distressed and enraged by the actions of the Israeli state, which has for decades enforced an apartheid system on the Palestinian people whose land they have taken, and which is now perpetuating genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” the Night Manager screenwriter said in a statement.
The day after the Israeli ceremony, the Israeli Ministry of Culture announced it would withdraw state funding for “the disgraceful ceremony” starting next year. The winning film “presents the Palestinian perspective and depicts IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers and the State of Israel in a negative way,” the ministry said.
Culture minister Miki Zohar described the ceremony and the award as a “spit in the face of Israeli citizens,” adding: “The fact that the winning film depicts our heroic soldiers in a defamatory and false way while they fight and risk their lives to protect us no longer surprises anyone.”
Later Wednesday, Zohar announced the establishment of the “Israeli State Oscar,” a new government-sponsored alternative film awards ceremony to honor Israeli creators and films that “reflect the nation’s values and spirit.”
Taking another swipe at the Ophir Awards, Zohar said it promotes “foreign, disconnected narratives against Israel and IDF soldiers.”
Israeli culture minister Miki Zohar speaks at the 2025 Jerusalem Post Conference in New York in May. – Lev Radin/Shutterstock
Without directly responding to the threat, the Israeli Academy defended the selection process as one “conducted by academy members, creators, filmmakers, and cultural figures, who choose the best of Israeli cinema with a commitment to cinematic excellence, artistic freedom, and freedom of expression.”
Academy chairman, Assaf Amir, added he is “proud that an Arabic-language film, the fruit of cooperation between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians, is representing Israel at the Academy Awards. Israeli cinema proves once again that it is relevant and responsive to a complex and painful reality. This is a sensitive and empathetic film about human beings in general, and about its protagonist in particular –- a Palestinian child whose only wish is to reach the sea.”
Legal experts are questioning the legality of defunding the academy. Oded Feller, the legal adviser of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, told CNN that Zohar is “waving empty threats” and has no authority to withhold the funds.
“The ministry’s budget does not belong to his mother, and he is not empowered to interfere with cultural content or the professional judgment of those who select the films,” Feller told CNN.
Zohar has clashed with the film industry before.
Last year, the joint Israeli-Palestinian documentary “No Other Land” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The film follows the village of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, where the Palestinian community faces eviction and demolition by Israeli forces.
The filmmakers, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, used their acceptance speeches to highlight the effects of Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Adra said the film “reflects the harsh reality that we have been suffering for decades, a reality that continues until today, and we call on the world to take concrete steps to end this injustice.”
Abraham called for the end of the “terrible destruction of Gaza” and the release of Israeli hostages.
“We created this film together, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger,” he added.
The Israeli government’s reaction was strongly negative, with Zohar calling the win “a regrettable moment for the cinematic world” and depicting the film as “sabotage” against Israel.
This story has been updated.
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