‘Fill the Void’ Will Be Israel’s Oscar Entry
Israel has selected the award-winning film “Fill the Void” as its submission to the best foreign language film category of the Oscars.
“Fill the Void,” or “Lemale et ha’chalal,” won Film of the Year Sept. 21 at the Ophir Awards, Israel’s national film awards from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television.
The film, about a young haredi Orthodox woman from Tel Aviv who is engaged to be married but must decide whether to marry her brother-in-law when her sister dies in childbirth, also won Ophirs for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Makeup, after being nominated in 13 categories.
It is the first full-length feature film for director Rama Burshtein, who is herself haredi Orthodox.
Hadas Yaron won Best Actress, an award she also won last month at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.
The film will actually be screened in Israel after the High Holiday season.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
