'Waltz with Bashir' wins big
Drawing: David Polonsky
'Waltz with Bashir' to represent Israel in Oscars
Ari Folman's animated film describing 1982 Lebanon War wins this year's Best Film Award at Ophir Ceremony, will go on to compete in US Academy Awards' foreign film category
"Waltz with Bashir", Ari Folman's animated documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War,
was crowned this year's best movie at the Ophir Academy Awards Ceremony on Tuesday evening, an award that grants it the honor of representing Israel
at this year's Oscar Academy Awards in the United States.
The ceremony was held on the backdrop of a budget cut threat to the Israeli Film Academy, and many of the evening's big winners took advantage of the stage-time granted them in order to call on the Finance Ministry to refrain from acting on this threat.
Ari Folman accepts award (Photo: Channel 10)
Aside from Best Movie, 'Waltz with Bashir' received awards in five additional categories: Artistic Design, Editing, Soundtrack Design, Direction, and Script.
In his acceptance speech, Folman thanked his "gang of creators", whom he referred to as "a group that represents every filmmaker's dream." Folman dedicated the award to the eight babies who were born during the four-year time period of the film's production and said, "I hope that when they grow up and see this film, everything they see will appear to them like something from another world, just another animated movie."
In accordance with many others, Folman spoke out against the budget cuts. "I want to ask the ministry's secretaries whether they have kids – because if they do, just what do they want their box of memories to contain?
"I remember when my father took me to see 'Hashoter Azulay' (The Policeman), and the twentieth time I saw 'Givat Halfon'. What do you want your children to remember, how you took them to see 'American Pie 7'? Israeli film is your children's soundtrack!" he concluded.
