‘Fill the Void’ Will Be Israel’s Oscar Entry

By JTA September 24, 2012

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 CEO & publisher 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 during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO