{"id":459481,"date":"2026-05-25T18:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/459481\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:33:11","slug":"israeli-idf-documentary-wins-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/459481\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli IDF documentary wins award"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT) and the Weil-Bloch Foundation announced that the winner of the 2026 Weil-Bloch Film Award is the documentary<\/a> One Eye Open.<\/p>\n

Directed by Tom Giat and produced by Ohad Milstein, the film won a $50,000 prize. It will have its world premiere at Docaviv 2026, an international documentary film festival held in Tel Aviv<\/a>, where the movie will be screened in the main Israeli competition.<\/p>\n

Docaviv<\/a> will run this year from May 28 to June 6 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and other venues around the city.<\/p>\n

The prize committee said of the film, \u201cIn an impressive cinematic language and with rare emotional precision, Tom Giat\u2019s debut film follows the cracks that open up in his inner world as a reserve soldier<\/a>, against the backdrop of the war that is shaking the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giat was born in 1998 and graduated from the screen-based arts department at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople watch a movie screened as part of the ”Docaviv” movie festival, at Hilton beach in Tel Aviv. July 06, 2021. (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

During more than 400 days of reserve duty in Operation Swords of Iron, he closely documented the growing crisis he was experiencing.<\/p>\n

The film traces the quiet voices of a group of reservists who answered the call to serve and found themselves staggering under the burden. It offers a personal look at the war from October 7 to the present.<\/p>\n

Film won Outstanding Project Award<\/p>\n

Produced by Milstein, with the support of the NFCT, the Kadar Foundation, and Mifal Hapayis, the film also won the Outstanding Project Award at Docaviv\u2019s DOCLAB incubator.<\/p>\n

The Weil-Bloch Award was established in 2020 by the NFCT and the Weil-Bloch Foundation and is awarded annually to Israeli films that address themes of shared society, immigration, and racism; demonstrate courage in both their subject matter and their filmmaking; and have the potential to interest international audiences.<\/p>\n

Each year, the prize committee chooses three projects in the final stages of completion and awards the Best Film Prize of $50,000, the Jury Prize of $40,000, and a Special Mention Prize of $15,000.<\/p>\n

The winners of the other prizes are films that are still in advanced stages of production. The Weil-Bloch Foundation has its headquarters in Geneva.<\/p>\n

Previous winners of the Weil-Bloch prizes include filmmakers Ari Folman, Orit Fouks Rotem, Zohar Wagner, Maya Kenig, Lee Gilat, Bat-el Moseri, Eti Tsicko, and Moshe Rosenthal, among others.<\/p>\n

NFCT CEO Orel Turner said, \u201cThe fund, over its decades of activity, supports Israeli films that constitute high art, but also serve as a tool for social change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel’s conflicts ‘never stop’ being relevant\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor six years, the Weil-Bloch prizes have been encouraging films that deal with conflicts in Israel\u2019s shared society, a subject that never stops being relevant. Tom Giat\u2019s film does this in a precise and uncompromising voice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NFCT sees its role as ensuring that films of this kind will continue to be made and reach broad audiences beyond Israel\u2019s borders as well, and will be able to tell a complex story about us,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank the Weil-Bloch Foundation for a long-term partnership, and for its belief in the power of films to create change and generate tolerance and empathy for the other,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

James Velaise, a representative of the Weil-Bloch Foundation, said, \u201cI am sure the prize will continue to be awarded for years to come. Precisely in this complex period, the foundation feels committed to continuing to support independent Israeli filmmakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to award this year\u2019s first prize to Tom\u2019s debut film, which succeeds, with an impressive cinematic language and rare emotional precision, in conveying the complex experience of an Israeli reserve soldier within the turbulent reality of wars,\u201d Velaise said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT) and the Weil-Bloch Foundation announced that the winner of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1503,1549,146,76189,1031,85,46,116],"class_list":["post-459481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-culture","tag-documentary","tag-entertainment","tag-film-festival","tag-idf","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-tel-aviv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459481","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=459481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}