Israel’s entry for Best International Film at the 2023 Oscars ceremony failed to make it onto a shortlist of 15 films that will vie for the award next year, according to an announcement on Wednesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Directed by Orit Fouks Rotem, “Cinema Sabaya” tells the story of female Arab and Jewish municipal workers who participate in a video workshop documenting their own lives, viewing each others’ and challenging their beliefs in order to get to know one another.
Meanwhile, a controversial Jordanian film portraying Israeli soldiers as murderers also failed to advance.
When “Farha” hit Netflix, hundreds of Israelis canceled their subscriptions to the streaming service and demonstrated outside the company’s headquarters in London, saying the film put Jews, Israelis, and Israeli soldiers in particular, in danger.