In a famous and funny moment in Israeli sports history, Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball star Tal Brody exclaimed, “We’re on the map!” For nearly two decades, after his team defeated the Soviet Red Army team, CSKA Moscow, in 1977, Israeli filmmakers have been repeating that credo, with their films appearing at dozens of film festivals each year. It had won the highest award.
But now, “We’ve fallen off the map!” may become the new slogan for the Israeli film and television industry. That has been true not only since October 7, but for several years now, and has become even more so since the war began. Today, Israeli film and television experts fear they are facing an unofficial but all-too-real cultural boycott.
“It’s terrible, it’s really terrible,” said one industry professional, who, like others I spoke to for this article, did not want their name or any identifying details used. “Israeli art is being boycotted everywhere around the world.”
Israeli movie screening canceled
A particularly worrying trend is for filmmakers to be accepted by a festival, only to then be disinvited from the festival. This happened to Amit Ullman too. His film The City, hailed by Israeli critics as dazzlingly original, was scheduled to be screened at the Beijing International Film Festival in April, but tickets for Ullman and the producers were sold out at the last minute. It was canceled and the film’s screening was halted. In the fall, the Stockholm International Film Festival rescinded its invitation and re-invited Aliza Chanowitz, whose TV series “Changsi” was screened there.
And how can Israeli filmmakers feel safe at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, where a banner reading “From the river to the sea will be free” was unfurled at the opening ceremony in November? The sign was greeted with applause, including from festival director Oluwa Nirabia, who later apologized. From “Chansi”: Aliza Chanowitz alongside her father, played by Henry Winkler. (Credit: Provided by: Hot/Credit: Vered Adir)
Since October 7th, filmmakers have been contacting me to tell me about their rejections from the Foreign Film Fund and their fears for the future. That concern is particularly acute because nearly all film and television creators rely on co-production funding from overseas to produce their projects.
One filmmaker sent me a rejection letter he received from a European-based film fund saying, “We are not considering collaborating with Israeli filmmakers at this time.” The foundation could have easily turned down the project simply because it didn’t like the film or it wasn’t a good fit. Instead, he made it clear that he did not want to cooperate with the Israelis. I’ve since heard other filmmakers have been rejected with similar language.
Israeli creators say the situation is particularly dire because the Israeli film and television industry has long enjoyed the prestige of successful movies and series abroad without paying for it.
“The European Film Fund is driving the film industry here. Nothing will happen in Israel without funding from France, Germany, possibly Poland and other countries, or even Netflix,” said another. Told. “Look at the credits for the most high-profile projects by really famous people. We don’t get enough funding here, so we have investors from abroad. And now that money is gone.”
The same goes for the television industry, which relies heavily on foreign funding. “Fauda” has been a huge success overseas, and other Israeli TV series such as “The Baker and the Beauty,” about a baker who falls in love with a model, have been remade in several countries, including the United States and India, but now This trend seems to be becoming more pronounced. On hold. Some of the best recent Israeli series that have aired here and gained popularity and critical acclaim have either been rejected by streaming services around the world, or have been purchased but not aired, and some of them are not available anytime soon. It may not be broadcast.
Starting October 7th, creators developing television projects with ties to Israeli intelligence will turn Israelis and Palestinians into British and Irish characters from the ’70s, or other factions of the conflict. He gently told me that I should think about it. “They don’t say, ‘Can you make it more Israeli?'” But that’s what they mean. ”
One group particularly hard hit by this unofficial boycott is Israeli Arab filmmakers, who have long struggled to have their stories told.
“We are too Arab to accept Israeli film funds, and too Israeli to accept funding from Arab countries or Europe,” one filmmaker told me. “You can win awards for short films, but when you try to make a feature film, you don’t have anyone to contribute to it.”
The films of Nadav Lapid and Amos Gitai, two of Israel’s most acclaimed and most overtly political filmmakers, are so critical of Israel that they remain favorites of film festival directors around the world. You can point out the fact that they are showing Israeli movies. Movies – The remaining companies have had bad luck lately when it comes to showing their movies overseas.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, completed Israeli feature films that hadn’t been shown in theaters were effectively sent to the Toronto International Film Festival, North America’s biggest film festival, or the Venice Film Festival, both of which close in the summer. The Cannes Film Festival in the spring tends to have fewer Israeli films screened, but those that were accepted tend to do well.
However, in recent years, with the aforementioned exceptions and a few short films and documentaries, very few Israeli films have been shown at these festivals. The same can be said of the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the US, which was the site of pro-Palestinian protests this year.
At the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, Israeli films have flourished for 20 years under the stewardship of Dieter Koslick, a public friend of the Israeli film industry. But since he resigned after the 2019 Berlinale, where Lapid’s Synonyms won the top prize, the Golden Lion, the festival has rarely screened Israeli films.
The only Israeli film of 2023 is Asaf Saban’s Masterpiece, a European Film Fund-funded film about a group of teenagers visiting Auschwitz, and the only Israeli film of 2024 is a film set in a residential building. Gitai’s “Sikun” was a reckless reimagining of Ionesco’s “Sai.” A project in a city in southern Israel. More than 50 Berlinale officials signed an open letter before the festival calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and demanding that the festival’s leadership take a “stronger institutional stance” against the war. Although it may have meant disinviting Gitai, festival director Carlo Chatrian and Berlinale co-director Mariette Rissenbeek supported his participation.
Part of the problem started with the pandemic, which derailed some good movies. Here We Are, directed by Nir Bergman, was screened at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was canceled. The film was released during the pandemic, but it didn’t attract the same audiences it would have in normal times.
Israeli films are not selected
But why hasn’t Israel’s film industry regained its previous strength post-coronavirus? “That’s the million-dollar question,” said one expert.
Some in the film industry admit that there have been quite a few subpar films in recent years, and that may be part of the problem.
“There are a lot of films that were made in a sloppy way that were funded by (Israeli) funds,” said one industry expert. “It was a film with a decent premise, and the script could have been better if it had gone through a few more drafts. But the finished film was not good.”
The expert blames nepotism for mediocre films, saying that in a small industry where everyone knows each other, “the gatekeepers are their friends and friends’ children funding movies.” he said.
Still, in his opinion, this does not explain everything. “There were always bad movies being made here. But they used to go to film festivals,” he said. “Sometimes it won awards. One way he gauges Israel’s standing in the international film world is by looking at Oscar nominations.
In the 1960s and 1970s, five Israeli films were nominated for what was then called the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film: Salah Shabati (1964), The Policeman (1971), – Love You Rosa (1972), The House on Cherush Street (1973)), and Operation Thunderbolt (1977). One Israeli film, Beyond the Wall, got him a lot of attention in the 1980s, but no one paid attention to him in the 1990s. Until Beaufort was nominated in 2007, no Israeli film was nominated, but Waltz with Bashir was nominated in 2008, Ajami was nominated in 2009, and Footnotes was nominated in 2011. Ta. Since then, no Israeli film has been nominated, making Israel the country with the most nominations without winning.
This trend of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ignoring Israeli films began more than a decade ago, but one insider cautioned against looking for easy answers and argued that much of the blame lies with the Israeli Academy of Motion Pictures and Television. . Politics is not awake.
“The Israeli Academy has consistently chosen films that are least likely to appeal to Oscar voters.” When asked why, he says, “In some cases, they have chosen very typically Israeli films.” That’s why sometimes things don’t get across well.” Other times, the best movies were made by people who weren’t in my club or who I didn’t like for some reason.
“There is no disputing this result. Israeli films almost never get nominated or even make it onto the Oscar shortlist. Something is wrong with so many good films that go more than a decade without being nominated. It’s happening.”
The most optimistic thing anyone had to say was that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigns — which many Israelis hope will happen when there is a commission of inquiry into the military failures on October 7th. The idea was that foreign film funds and film festivals might start accepting Israeli filmmakers again. . “I cringe every time one of Bibi’s friends, like (Finance Minister Bezalel) Smotrich or (Itamar National Security Minister) Ben Gvir, say something terrible about the killing of people in Gaza. But there is hope that once Bibi and the thugs are gone, we will no longer be tainted.”
It remains to be seen whether Israeli filmmakers will be able to recover what they lost. One producer said: “It’s too early to tell.”
