Which film will be Israel's submission to the Oscars? Inside the Ophir Awards' red carpet

Last week, The Jerusalem Playlist traded its usual remote settings for the red carpet, landing at Cinema City in Ramat HaSharon for the Ophir Awards, which awards the prizes for the best Israeli films of the last year, often called the Israeli Oscars. 

It's more than a glamorous evening: the film that takes Best Picture becomes Israel's official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. That high-stakes backdrop turns the whole room electric, and the hosts work it like pros, catching Israel's most talented actors, directors, and rising stars in candid, unguarded moments before they disappear inside for the ceremony.

Who are among the attendees at the Ophir Awards?

What makes this episode land is the range of people who stop to talk. Former Gaza hostage Omer Shem Tov speaks about chasing a dream he's had since he was four or five years old, as he just finished a course at Stella Adler in New York and is presenting a statue tonight, calling the moment "manifesting my future."

Director Moshe Rosenthal reflects on Tell Me Everything, the record-breaking film nominated for more Ophirs than any movie in history, while the cast of Our Loves grapples with a story shadowed by October 7. Add veterans like Evgenia Dodina, who learned Polish from scratch for Mama, beloved actress Levana Finkelstein, and the great Tiki Dayan, and you get an evening where grief and celebration sit side by side.

The interviews are quick, warm, and often surprising, as Oscar-nominated filmmaker Meyer Levinson-Blount teases a secret new project about the West Bank, breakout star Riki Reif Sinai confesses she's actually a kindergarten teacher between auditions, and first-time nominee Daniel Gimpel gets delightfully flustered over red-carpet nerves and a designer dress she can't quite remember.

It's the kind of behind-the-scenes access that captures Israeli cinema at its most human: proud, vulnerable, and very much alive. Watch the full episode to see who's about to become the country's next big name.