{"id":252255,"date":"2026-01-22T19:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/252255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T19:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:25:14","slug":"three-films-focused-on-gaza-war-and-hostage-crisis-nominated-for-oscars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/252255\/","title":{"rendered":"Three films focused on Gaza war and hostage crisis nominated for Oscars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Israeli films and a Tunisian movie about the Gaza war and the hostage crisis were nominated for Academy Awards on Thursday as the vampire period horror film \u201cSinners\u201d smashed the all-time Oscars record with 16 nominations.<\/p>\n

The heavily Jewish period sports comedy \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d<\/a> starring Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet also picked up nine nominations, including best picture and best actor for the red-hot Chalamet, the 30-year-old thespian who is seen as likely to nab his first Oscar for the role.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s \u201cButcher\u2019s Stain,\u201d made by Meyer Levinson-Blount while at Tel Aviv University\u2019s film school, was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film. The film follows Samir, an Arab butcher in Tel Aviv, who sets out on a journey to prove his innocence after he\u2019s accused of removing posters of Israeli hostages being held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The film won second place in the narrative category of the Student Academy Awards<\/a> in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren No More: Were and Are Gone,\u201d directed by award-winning filmmaker Hilla Medalia, was nominated for Best Documentary Short Film.<\/p>\n

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Medalia\u2019s film is about a weekly vigil that began in March 2025 in Tel Aviv, as a handful of protesters held photos of children killed in Gaza, a gathering which grew over time into a powerful silent protest.<\/p>\n

Another film about Gazan children, \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab,\u201d a Tunisian docu-drama about a five-year-old girl allegedly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year and told from the perspective of the Palestinian Red Crescent, was nominated for Best International Feature.<\/p>\n

The film, by Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, tells the story of Hind Rajab Hamada, who was fleeing in Gaza City with six relatives last year when their car came under fire.<\/p>\n

It dramatizes the effort by Palestinian Red Crescent dispatchers in the central West Bank to send Rajab assistance within Gaza, using real audio from the girl\u2019s phone call, in which she \u2014 surrounded by dead family members \u2014 pleads for help.<\/p>\n

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has accused Israel of deliberately targeting an ambulance it sent to rescue Rajab.<\/p>\n

Israel has rejected that claim, saying a probe found there were no Israeli troops present in the vicinity of the vehicle where Rajab\u2019s body was found, nor was there a need for specific coordination of the ambulance to pick her up.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tFrom left: US actor Joaquin Phoenix, US actress Rooney Mara, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, actor Motaz Malhees and actress Clara Khoury pose with a portrait of late Palestinian girl Hind Rajab during the red carpet for the movie \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab\u201d presented in competition at the 82nd International Venice Film Festival, at Venice Lido on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Tiziana FABI \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The film, submitted by Tunisia and co-produced by upstart pro-Palestinian distributor Watermelon Pictures, won a groundswell of support from the pro-Palestinian filmmaking community during the awards circuit. Jonathan Glazer, the British Jewish filmmaker behind the acclaimed Holocaust drama \u201cThe Zone of Interest,\u201d whose Oscars speech last year took aim at Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza, co-produced the film.<\/p>\n

The Ophir Award\u2013winning film \u201cThe Sea\u201d<\/a> didn\u2019t advance to the shortlist in the same category. Neither did the other shortlisted Israeli film, \u201cHolding Liat,\u201d<\/a> about the struggle to bring back hostage Liat Atzili<\/a>, which was aiming for Best Documentary Feature.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tHilla Medalia\u2019s documentary short, \u2018Children No More: Were and Are Gone,\u2019 nominated for the 2026 Oscars (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Marty Supreme<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d by Josh Safdie tells the story of Jewish table-tennis star Marty Mauser, loosely based on the story of Marty Reisman, an aspiring ping-pong athlete in the postwar Lower East Side, as he prepares to sacrifice everything for the chance to play in the world championships in Japan, and is played by Chalamet.<\/p>\n

It is loosely based on the story of Reisman, a real-life Jewish ping-pong champion and street hustler, though much of the rollicking tale \u2014 which includes detours into Auschwitz and the Pyramids of Giza \u2014 is fictional. Marty\u2019s journey also puts his own American Jewish identity under the microscope as he tangles with an antisemitic businessman and a dog named Moses.<\/p>\n

The film picked up nine Academy Award nominations, including best picture, best actor, and best director for Safdie; original screenplay for Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, along with cinematography, editing, production design, and costumes.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThis image released by A24 shows Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet in a scene from \u2018Marty Supreme.\u2019 (A24 via AP)<\/p>\n

The period sports comedy was also nominated in the new category of best casting, and \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d boasts a supporting cast of many Jewish actors \u2014 including Odessa A\u2019zion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard and Isaac Mizrahi.<\/p>\n

The film was the most evident Jewish rooting interest among the Oscar front-runners this year, especially since beloved Jewish actor Adam Sandler \u2014 who memorably starred in Safdie\u2019s previous film \u201cUncut Gems\u201d \u2014 missed out on a supporting actor nomination for his work in \u201cJay Kelly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Moon,\u201d a biopic of Jewish songwriter Lorenz Hart, picked up two nominations: best actor for Ethan Hawke and best original screenplay. Other films with prominent Jewish angles, including the World War II drama \u201cNuremberg,\u201d came up empty-handed.<\/p>\n

A few minor Jewish connections can be found in the year\u2019s second-most-nominated film, Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s political-rebel action drama \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d which picked up 13 nominations.<\/p>\n

Radiohead band member Jonny Greenwood, who has faced backlash from fans over his collaborations with Israeli musicians, was nominated for best score for the film. Israeli-American actress and musician Alana Haim, a frequent Anderson collaborator, also has a small role, and one of the movie\u2019s storylines involves a secret cabal of white supremacists who restrict membership to the \u201cGentile-born.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tBenicio del Toro, from left, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cassandra Kulukundis, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, and Paul Thomas Anderson accept the award for best picture for \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d during the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, at The Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello)<\/p>\n

Diane Warren, the Jewish songwriter and erstwhile Oscar nominee, was once again nominated \u2014 for the 17th time \u2014 in the category of best original song. This time, Warren\u2019s nomination came from writing a song for \u201cDiane Warren: Relentless,\u201d a documentary about herself.<\/p>\n

Record-breaking \u2018Sinners\u201d<\/p>\n

Vampire period horror film \u201cSinners\u201d smashed the all-time Oscars record with 16 nominations, the Academy announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

The blues-inflected drama set in the 1930s segregated US South, from director Ryan Coogler, scored nominations in nearly every category possible, including best picture.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tLewis Pullman, left, and Danielle Brooks present the nominees for the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

It blasted past the previous record of 14, jointly held by \u201cAll About Eve,\u201d \u201cTitanic,\u201d and \u201cLa La Land.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tally included a best actor nomination for Michael B. Jordan, who plays twins battling supernatural forces and racists, plus everything from screenplay to score.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinners\u201d also picked up a nomination for best casting, the first new category to be added to Hollywood\u2019s most prestigious awards in more than two decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Israeli films and a Tunisian movie about the Gaza war and the hostage crisis were nominated for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-252255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}