Walk on Water nominated for French Oscar

2004 Eytan Fox movie nominated for Best Foreign Film in exclusive French festival, film to compete against Hollywood blockbusters, Spanish film

Yoav Birenberg|Published: 01.29.06 , 18:09

After Hannah Laslo's triumph at Cannes, the Israeli film industry has chalked up another award: Last Friday, the French Academy of Cinema announced Walk on Water, the 2004 film by Eytan Fox and Gal Uchovsky, has been nominated for the prestigious César prize - the France's Oscars – in the category of best foreign film.

On February 25 Fox and Uchovsky will walk down the red carpet of the Chatelet Theater in Paris for the sparkling ceremony, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has reported.

The Israel movie will compete against Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, Woody Allen's Match Point and a Spanish film, The Sea Inside by Alejandro Amenabar.

"Walk on Water" has been an international box office success. It is about the relationship between a Mossad agent (played by Lior Ashkenazi) and a young German homosexual who is the grandson of a Nazi war criminal.

No high hopes

Director Fox says he was shocked by the nomination.

"I am thrilled, even a bit shocked, by the nomination. This competition is essentially against all the Hollywood movies to be shown in France over the past year," he said.

Fox also says he didn't get his hopes up, seeing as no Israeli film has ever won the award.

"The (foreign film) category usually has three-or-four American film, along with something like a Chinese or Italian film. I didn't get my hopes up, but I was thrilled to get the call that we'd been nominated.

"I hope it will also help us with my new film, The Bubble, which is supposed to come out this year. I've been so busy editing it that I haven't really had a chance to celebrate the nomination (for Walk on Water)," he said.

Israel film festival

Also this week in Paris will be the 6th Annual Israeli Film Festival. The festival has been hailed as a great success in the past, and just about all screenings are sold out.

"This event attracts a wide audience. There is no question that (the festival) has contributed a great deal to the fact that Israeli films are becoming more widely known in France," Cheryl Zrihan, the festivals founder and director.