Israeli animated anti-war feature 'Waltz with Bashir' continues to accumulate accolades abroad, and on Thursday was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Foreign-Language Film. The movie failed to snag a nomination for Best Animated Feature.
The announcement caught director Ari Fulman in his Washington hotel after a busy screening tour across the US Midwest. "I only just left the plains of Minnesota for Washington, this all feels like a hallucination," Fulman told Ynet after first hearing of the nomination.
"We've been screening the movie in places where no Israeli has set foot before. It's hard, every morning I wake up in a different city, trying to figure out where I am, and then suddenly there's the announcement."
He watched the ceremony in his hotel room. "I caught the broadcast on television. The excitement is immense. I don't think I fully understand the meaning of it yet. You have to understand, I'm coming from weeks of screenings in places that look like 'Fargo.' That's where it all really happens. It's not New York or Los Angeles, this is the real America. You go to the screenings in the snow, in front of a hundred people cocooned in their coats. And in the midst of this they suddenly announce the nomination. It's extraordinary."
And at this peak of success abroad, Fulman says he's staggered to think back on the early days of production.
"The beauty of it is that this wasn't the intention at all. I was so busy with the movie's survival, I just wanted to finish it, to make it happen. None of us imagined this is what would happen. We didn't think of
going very far. This film manages to touch people who don't even know what continent Israel is on. That's the beauty of cinema, that's its power."
'Waltz with Bashir' is up against 'Gomorrah' (Italy), 'I've Loved You So Long' (France), 'The Baader Meinhof Complex' (Germany), and 'Everlasting Moments' (Sweden).
HBO's acclaimed drama series 'In Treatment' – which is based on the Israeli 'Betipul' - landed five nominations.