The Israeli Academy of Film and Television has announced the finalists for the Ophir Awards 2015. The film selected as Best Feature will be Israel’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2016 Oscars. The Ophir Awards ceremony will take place on September 21, 2015 in Ashdod.
The current favorite appears to be Shemi Zarhin’s The Kind Words, nominated in several categories, including Best Director and Screenplay. An outlier contender for Best Feature is Uri Bar-on’s 10% My Child (read the Midnight East review), competing in the Best Fringe Film category. Trend watchers, it’s interesting to note that both these films, currently showing in Israeli theatres and very popular with audiences, focus on contemporary issues within the intimate circle of family and relationships.
Actor Roy Assaf is having a great year, nominated for Best Actor for his work in two films – Wounded Land and Wedding Doll, as well as Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Kind Words.
Alon Garbuz, Director of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque will receive the Ophir Lifetime Achievement Award.
2015 Ophir Award Finalists
Best Feature Film
Wounded Land – Friends and partners, two police officers struggle with moral dilemmas over the course of a tension fraught night in Haifa.
Baba Joon – a conflict between father and son, as 13 year old Moti would rather fix up old cars than work on the turkey farm, the proud achievement of his father’s labor upon immigrating to Israel from Iran.
The Kind Words – A young woman and her two brothers go in search of their biological father, on a journey that will lead them into the secrets of the past.
Wedding Doll – Hagit, a lovely young woman with a mental disability, works in a toilet paper factory in a small desert town and dreams of love and marriage.
.
Stair Cases – two men walk up and down the Carmel, from the port of Haifa to the top of the mountain.
Best Fringe Film
10% My Child – 26 year old Nico realizes that his love for Noa means that he will also have to figure out a relationship with Franny, her 7 year old daughter.
Best Director
Amir Wolf – Fire Birds
Erez Tadmor – Wounded Land
Yuval Delshad – Baba Joon
Nitzan Giladi – Wedding Doll
Shemi Zarhin – The Kind Words
Best Screenplay
Elad Kedan – Stair Cases
Erez Tadmor, Shlomo Efrati – Wounded Land
Evgeny Ruman – The Man in the Wall
Anat Asher, Tova Asher – AKA Nadia
Shemi Zarhin – The Kind Words
Best Actor
Assaf Ben Shimon – The Kind Words
Moshe Ivgy – The 90 Minute War
Oded Teomi – The Fire Birds
Roy Assaf – Wounded Land
Roy Assaf – Wedding Doll
Best Actress
Moran Rosenblatt – Wedding Doll
Miriam Zohar – Fire Birds
Netta Shpigelman – AKA Nadia
Rotem Zissman Cohen – The Kind Words
Tamar Alkan – The Man in the Wall
Best Supporting Actor
Asher Avrahami – Baba Joon
Gal Toren – Moon at House 12
Dvir Bendak – Wounded Land
Norman Issa – The 90 Minute War
Roy Assaf – The Kind Words
Best Supporting Actress
Asi Levy – Wedding Doll
Dvora Kedar – Fire Birds
Yuval Sharf – Moon at House 12
Mali Levy Gershon – Atomic Falafel
Florence Bloch – The Kind Words
