It’s been a tumultuous week for Israel’s film industry. The country’s equivalent to the Oscars, the Ophir Awards, was condemned by culture minister Miki Zohar after “The Sea” — about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank — won best film on Tuesday evening. Just a few hours later, Ariel Bronz, the star of Nadav Lapid’s “Yes,” was detained that same night by police for questioning on suspicion of incitement to commit an act of terrorism for a poem he posted on Facebook two months ago.
Speaking to Variety on Friday, Bronz said police stormed into his apartment in Tel Aviv at 4 a.m. and took him into custody in what he described as a “cyber unit.” His provocative poem revolved around a cycle of bloodshed and called out Israel’s prime minister.
“Part of the deal that allowed me to get out of custody was that I I have to erase this poem from the web, and from my personal computer and from my book,” he said. “They told me that if I will send the poem to someone, I will have to pay 10,000 shekels.”
It wasn’t his first time in custody, because he says he’s been known as a subversive artist who’s been notoriously at odds with the Israeli government for the last 14 years. But the timing of this arrest surprised him.
“It was a very strange timing because we had this ceremony and a few hours after it, I was taken by the police,” he says. Bronz suspects the country’s “right-wing government was embarrassed by the ceremony and the fact that a film about a Palestinian kid won the awards, so they wanted to embarrass the left and I was an easy target.” “Yes” also won several technical awards at the Ophirs.
Bronz was released by police after posting bail, but he will have to stand before a judge on suspicion of incitement to commit an act of terrorism tied to his poem.
Meanwhile, culture minister Zohar announced the launch of the “Israeli State Oscar Ceremony” which will represent the government-backed official alternative to the Ophir Awards. He said the “Israeli Film and Television Academy has not represented the Israeli public and the majority of Israeli citizens, but has instead served as a platform for extremist and delusional voices on the margins of Israeli society that harm the fabric of Israeli society.”
The Ophir ceremony was highly politically charged, as several winners onstage urged the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza. Almost all of them sported a black t-shirt with an anti-war message such as “a child is a child is a child,” while others had pictures of the hostages.
While it struggles to maintain some independence and freedom of speech at home, the Israeli film industry is also facing threats of a boycott from the international community. Last week, nearly 4,000 entertainment industry names, including Hollywood stars like Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix, signed a petition calling for a boycott of Israeli film institutions “complicit in war crimes” in Gaza.
Yet Bronz, who was also nominated for his role in “Yes” at the Ophir Awards, thinks the film world is one of the only places where Israelis and Palestinians have been peacefully working hand-in-hand.
“It’s pretty amazing. It’s like a utopia or imaginary world where peace can happen,” he said.
“Yes,” which world premiered at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, opened on Wednesday in France.
