List of Israeli submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Ephraim Kishon directed Sallah (1964), Israel's first film nominated for the award.

Israel has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film^{[nb 1]} since 1964. Despite its relatively small film-making industry, ten Israeli films have been nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar, placing it in the Top Ten most nominated countries of all time. However, as of 2022, no Israeli film has ever won the coveted award.

Since 1991, the Israeli Ophir Award winner for Best Film is automatically designated the Israeli submission for the Oscar. In 2007, Aviva My Love and Sweet Mud tied for the award, necessitating a second round of voting which resulted in the submission of Sweet Mud. In 2008 The Band's Visit won the Ophir Award for Best Film but was disqualified by AMPAS for containing too much English dialogue. The runner-up Beaufort was submitted in its place, resulting in Israel's first Oscar nomination in 23 years.

The most successful Israeli director is this category is Moshé Mizrahi who received two Oscar nominations representing Israel, and whose 1977 film Madame Rosa won the Oscar, representing France. Ephraim Kishon represented Israel twice, and was nominated both times. Joseph Cedar and Savi Gavison have represented Israel in the competition three times each, and Cedar was nominated twice.

Submissions

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.^[3] Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Israel for review by AMPAS for the Foreign Film Oscar along with the year of the submission and the year of the respective Academy Award ceremony.

In most of the Israeli submissions, the majority of the dialogue was in Hebrew. Films which notably used another language as a primary spoken language are The Glass Cage and Moments (French), Late Marriage (Georgian) and Ajami (the local dialect of Arabic). Many others, including Yana's Friends and Saint Clara, feature a heavy dose of Russian.

The missing years are those in which no film was submitted by Israel.

Year (Ceremony)	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Director	Result
1964 (37th)	Sallah	סאלח שבתי	Ephraim Kishon	Nominated[4]
1965 (38th)	The Glass Cage	כלוב הזכוכית	Philippe Arthuys and Jean-Louis Levi-Alvarès	Not nominated
1966 (39th)	The Flying Matchmaker	שני קוני למל	Israel Becker	Not nominated
1968 (41st)	Every Bastard a King	כל ממזר מלך	Uri Zohar	Not nominated
1969 (42nd)	Siege	מצור	Gilberto Tofano	Not nominated
1971 (44th)	The Policeman	השוטר אזולאי	Ephraim Kishon	Nominated[5]
1972 (45th)	I Love You Rosa	אני אוהב אותך רוזה	Moshé Mizrahi	Nominated[6]
1973 (46th)	The House on Chelouche Street	הבית ברחוב שלוש	Moshé Mizrahi	Nominated[7]
1975 (48th)	My Michael	מיכאל שלי	Dan Wolman	Not nominated
1977 (50th)	Operation Thunderbolt	מבצע יונתן	Menahem Golan	Nominated[8]
1978 (51st)	Lemon Popsicle	אסקימו לימון	Boaz Davidson	Not nominated
1979 (52nd)	Moments	רגעים	Michal Bat-Adam	Not nominated
1980 (53rd)	The Thin Line	על חבל דק	Michal Bat-Adam	Not nominated
1981 (54th)	A Thousand Little Kisses	אלף נשיקות קטנות	Mira Recanati	Not nominated
1982 (55th)	Hamsin	חמסין	Daniel Wachsmann	Not nominated
1983 (56th)	A Married Couple	זוג נשוי	Yitzhak Yeshurun	Not nominated
1984 (57th)	Beyond the Walls	מאחורי הסורגים	Uri Barbash	Nominated[9]
1985 (58th)	When Night Falls	עד סוף הלילה	Eitan Green	Not nominated
1986 (59th)	Avanti Popolo	אוונטי פופולו	Rafi Bukai	Not nominated
1987 (60th)	I Don't Give a Damn	לא שם זין	Shmuel Imberman	Not nominated
1988 (61st)	The Summer of Aviya	הקיץ של אביה	Eli Cohen	Not nominated
1989 (62nd)	One of Us	אחד משלנו	Uri Barbash	Not nominated
1990 (63rd)	The Lookout	שורו	Savi Gabizon	Not nominated
1991 (64th)	Beyond the Sea	מעבר לים	Jacob Goldwasser	Not nominated
1992 (65th)	Life According to Agfa	החיים על פי אגפא	Assi Dayan	Not nominated
1993 (66th)	Revenge of Itzik Finkelstein	נקמתו של איציק פינקלשטיין	Enrique Rottenberg	Not nominated
1994 (67th)	Sh'Chur	שחור	Shmuel Hasfari	Not nominated
1995 (68th)	Lovesick on Nana Street	חולה אהבה בשיכון גימל)	Savi Gabizon	Not nominated
1996 (69th)	Saint Clara	קלרה הקדושה	Ari Folman and Ori Sivan	Not nominated
1997 (70th)	Pick a Card	עפולה אקספרס	Julie Shles	Not nominated
1998 (71st)	Circus Palestine	קרקס פלשתינה	Eyal Halfon	Not nominated
1999 (72nd)	Yana's Friends	החברים של יאנה	Arik Kaplun	Not nominated
2000 (73rd)	Time of Favor	ההסדר	Joseph Cedar	Not nominated
2001 (74th)	Late Marriage	חתונה מאוחרת	Dover Kosahvili	Not nominated
2002 (75th)	Broken Wings	כנפיים שבורות	Nir Bergman	Not nominated
2003 (76th)	Nina's Tragedies	האסונות של נינה	Savi Gabizon	Not nominated
2004 (77th)	Campfire	מדורת השבט	Joseph Cedar	Not nominated
2005: (78th)	What a Wonderful Place	איזה מקום נפלא	Eyal Halfon	Not nominated
2006 (79th)	Sweet Mud	אדמה משוגעת	Dror Shaul	Not nominated
2007 (80th)	Beaufort	בופור	Joseph Cedar	Nominated[10]
2008 (81st)	Waltz with Bashir	ואלס עם באשיר	Ari Folman	Nominated[11]
2009 (82nd)	Ajami	عجمي / עג'מי	Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani	Nominated[12]
2010 (83rd)	The Human Resources Manager[13]	שליחותו של הממונה על משאבי אנוש	Eran Riklis	Not nominated[14]
2011 (84th)	Footnote	הערת שוליים	Joseph Cedar	Nominated[15]
2012 (85th)	Fill the Void[16]	למלא את החלל	Rama Burshtein	Not nominated
2013 (86th)	Bethlehem[17]	בית לחם	Yuval Adler	Not nominated
2014 (87th)	Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem[18]	גט – המשפט של ויויאן אמסלם	Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz	Not nominated
2015 (88th)	Baba Joon[19]	באבא ג'ון	Yuval Delshad	Not nominated
2016 (89th)	Sand Storm[20]	סופת חול	Elite Zexer	Not nominated
2017 (90th)	Foxtrot[21]	פוֹקְסטְרוֹט	Samuel Maoz	Made shortlist[22]
2018 (91st)	The Cakemaker[23]	האופה מברלין	Ofir Raul Grazier	Not nominated
2019 (92nd)	Incitement[24]	ימים נוראים	Yaron Zilberman	Not nominated
2020 (93rd)	Asia[25]	אסיה	Ruthy Pribar	Not nominated
2021 (94th)	Let It Be Morning[26]	ויהי בוקר	Eran Kolirin	Not nominated
2022 (95th)	Cinema Sabaya[27]	סינמה סבאיא	Orit Fouks Rotem	Not nominated
2023 (96th)	Seven Blessings[28]	שבע ברכות	Ayelet Menahemi	Not nominated

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
• Cinema of Israel
• List of Palestinian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Notes

1. The category was previously named the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in April 2019, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated.^[1][2]

References

1. "Academy announces rules for 92nd Oscars". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. "Academy Announces Rule Changes For 92nd Oscars". Forbes. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
3. "Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
4. "The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
5. "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
6. "The 45th Academy Awards (1973) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
7. "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
8. "The 50th Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
9. "The 57th Academy Awards (1985) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
10. "The 80th Academy Awards (2008) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
11. "The 81st Academy Awards (2009) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
12. "The 82nd Academy Awards (2010) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
13. "'Human Resources Manager' wins big at Ophir Awards". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
14. "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar Race". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
15. "Oscars 2012: Nominees in full". BBC News. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
16. "'Fill the Void' to become Israel's Oscars entry". The Times of Israel. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
17. "Israel's Oscar entry on Mideast conflict cleans up at local 'Academy Awards'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
18. "Oscars: Israel Nominates 'Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem' in Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
19. "Israeli Persian-language film to contend for Oscar". The Times of Israel. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
20. Caspi, David (22 September 2016). "Oscars: Israel Selects 'Sand Storm' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
21. Kamin, Debra (19 September 2017). "Israel's 'Foxtrot' Sweeps Ophir Awards to Become Country's Oscar Entry". Variety. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
22. Pond, Steve (14 December 2017). "Oscars Foreign Language Shortlist Includes 'The Square,' 'A Fantastic Woman'". The Wrap. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
23. Caspi, David (6 September 2018). "Oscars: Israel Selects 'The Cakemaker' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
24. Toker, Ina (22 September 2018). "The Ophir Awards 2019: "High Days" Israeli representative to the Oscars". Ynet. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
25. "Asia wins the Ophir Award and will represent Israel at the Oscars". The Jerusalem Post. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
26. Brown, Hannah (5 October 2020). "Eran Kolirin's Let It Be Morning wins big at the Ophir Awards". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
27. "Cinema Sabaya wins 2022 Ophir Award, to represent Israel at Oscars". Jerusalem Post. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
28. "Seven Blessings wins big at the Ophir Awards". The Jerusalem Post. 10 September 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2023.

External links

• The Official Academy Awards Database
• The Motion Picture Credits Database
• IMDb Academy Awards Page