Israeli Film Academy Awards 2006
2006 Israeli Film Academy Ophir Awards
2006 Ophir nominees: Aug. 22, 2006
2006 Ophir winners: Tel Aviv Opera House on Sept. 14, 2006
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
The winners of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television’s 2006 Ophir Awards, the Israeli equivalent to the Oscars, were announced yesterday at a ceremony in Tel Aviv.
For the first time, two films tied for the top prize: the odds-on favorite Aviva Ahuvati / Aviva My Love, which also won the Best Director (Shemi Zarhin) and Best Screenplay (Itzik Portal) awards, unexpectedly shared the Best Film award with Dror Shaul’s coming-of-age tale Adama Meshuga’at / Sweet Mud, about a boy growing up in a Kibbutz in the 1970s.
Aviva My Love, the tale of a hotel cook who dreams of becoming a writer, won three other awards, including Best Actress for Assi Levy as the writer wannabe. The Best Actor was Assi Dayan, as a man who looks back on his life while his father lies dying in Things Behind the Sun.
A follow-up vote will take place on Sunday to decide which of the two Best Film winners will be Israel’s submission for the 2006 Best Foreign-Language Film Academy Award.
By the way, Eytan Fox’s box-office hit, The Bubble, failed to win a single Ophir. (In the Jerusalem Post, Hannah Brown asserts that the Israeli Academy of Film, unlike its American counterpart, has a tendency to snub commercially successful films.)
The Alternative Film Guide thanks Aviad Shamir for the 2006 Ophir winners list.
The nominees for the Israel Academy of Film and Television Awards, also known as the Ophir Awards, were announced in Tel Aviv this past Tuesday, Aug. 22. As per Hannah Brown in the Jerusalem Post, the most notable aspect of the Israel Academy’s choices was the near complete lack of political content in the nominated films.
Among the Best Film (and Best Director) nominees are Aviva, My Love, directed by Shemi Zarhin, the tale of a hotel cook (Best Actress nominee Assi Levy) who dreams of becoming a writer; Yuval Shafferman’s Things Behind the Sun, the story of a man who looks back on his life while his father lies dying; and Dina Zvi-Riklis‘ Three Mothers, about three Egyptian sisters whose promising lives turn out to be tragically unfulfilling. (The winner in the Best Film category will be Israel’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar.)
Veteran Gila Almagor, known as the First Lady of Israeli Cinema and one of the stars of Three Mothers, received a Best Actress nomination for her role in Tied Hands, the story of a mother desperately looking for marijuana in the streets of Tel Aviv in order to ease the suffering of her AIDS-stricken son. She won a Special Award at this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival for her performances in those two films.
Notably absent from the list of Best Film nominees was Eytan Fox’s The Bubble — the title refers to Tel Aviv, a city in Israel without quite being of Israel — which revolves around a group of young men and women, including a Palestinian-Israeli gay couple, living in that cosmopolitan and liberal-minded Israeli city.
The 2006 Ophir Award winners will be announced during a Sept. 14 ceremony at the Tel Aviv Opera House.
Best Picture (tie)
* Aviva, My Love
* Sweet Mud
Things Behind the Sun
Someone to Run With
Three Mothers
Best Director
* Shemi Zarhin – Aviva, My Love
Dror Shaul – Sweet Mud
Yuval Shafferman – Things Behind the Sun
Dan Wolman – Tied Hands
Oded Davidoff – Someone to Run With
Dina Zvi-Riklis – Three Mothers
Best Actor
Dror Keren – Aviva, My Love
Tomer Steinhof – Sweet Mud
* Assi Dayan – Things Behind the Sun
Itay Tiran – Forgiveness
Rami Heuberger – Dear Mr. Waldman
Best Actress
* Assi Levy – Aviva, My Love
Ronit Yudkevitz – Sweet Mud
Gila Almagor – Tied Hands
Anat Klausner – Frozen Days
Bar Belfar – Someone to Run With
Best Supporting Actor
Sasson Gabai – Aviva, My Love
Yousef "Joe" Sweid – The Bubble
Zohar Shtrauss – Things Behind the Sun
* Tzahi Grad – Someone to Run With
Alon Abutbul – Only Dogs Run Free
Best Supporting Actress
* Rotem Abuhab – Aviva, My Love
Yael Poliakov – Ein la Elohim
Tess Hashiloni – Things Behind the Sun
Rinat Matatov – Someone to Run With
Evelyn Kaplun – Dear Mr. Waldman
Ayelet Zurer – Only Dogs Run Free
Best Screenplay
* Shemi Zarhin – Aviva, My Love
Dror Shaul – Sweet Mud
Yuval Shafferman – Things Behind the Sun
Noah Stollman – Someone to Run With
Alma Ganihar, Dina Zvi-Riklis – Three Mothers
Best Cinematography
Itzik Portal – Aviva, My Love
Ram Shweky – Frozen Days
Yaron Scharf – Someone to Run With
David Gurfinkel – Salt of the Earth
* Shai Goldman – Three Mothers
Best Editing
* Einat Glaser-Zarhin – Aviva, My Love
Isaac Sehayek, Halil Efrat, Michal Cohen – Sweet Mud
Yosef Grunfeld – Things Behind the Sun
Ron Omer – Someone to Run With
Tova Asher – Three Mothers
Best Art Direction
Ido Dolev – Aviva, My Love
* Avishay Avivi – Sweet Mud
Shahar Bar-Adon – Someone to Run With
Avishay Avivi – King of Beggars
Eitan Levi – Three Mothers
Best Costume Design
Inbal Shuki – Aviva, My Love
Rona Doron – Sweet Mud
Hadas Raubicheck – Someone to Run With
Rona Doron – Dear Mr. Waldman
* Rona Doron – Three Mothers
Best Composer
Jonathan Bar Giora – Aviva, My Love
* Tsoof Philosof, Adi Renart – Sweet Mud
Ivri Leader – The Bubble
Ran Shem Tov – Someone to Run With
Shmulik Neufeld, Ori Zakh – Three Mothers
Best Sound
Ashi Milo, Aviv Aldema, Israel David – Aviva, My Love
* Eli Yarkoni, Yoav Sarig – Sweet Mud
Itai Elohev, Gil Toren, Israel David – The Bubble
David Lis, Aviv Aldema, Israel David – Someone to Run With
Ashi Milo, Gil Toren, Israel David – Three Mothers
Best Documentary Feature
Erez Tadmor, Yaron Amitai – All Is Well by Me
Tomer Heymann – Paper Dolls
Tali shemesh – The Cemetery Club
* Shahar Cohen, Halil Efrat – Souvenirs
Assaf Sudri, Amir Tausinger – Shvita
Lifetime Achievement Award: Nadav Levitan
The Alternative Film Guide thanks Aviad Shamir for the 2006 Ophir nominees/winners list.
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Jerusalem Film Festival Awards 2006
OSIAN-CINEFAN Film Festival Awards 2006
Sydney Film Festival Awards 2006
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2 Responses to “Israeli Film Academy Awards 2006”
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The Israeli film industry is morbid, depressing and shmootzy. It takes audacity and chutzpah to hand out awards for the kind of charah they turn out.
Instead of concentrating on the sordid and ugly aspects of current Israeli society, I think the Israeli film industry should go back in time for inspiration and make some epic heroic films based on historical heroic personages and their feats of bravery. Kurowsawa’s “7 Samurai” could be used as a model for an Israeli version called “The 7 Maccabees”.