The Sea

Israel’s official Oscar submission and winner of five Ophir Awards, including Best Picture, The Sea is a powerful, neorealist drama directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak.

In the spirit of Bicycle Thieves, the film follows 12-year-old Khaled, a Palestinian boy in the West Bank who dreams of seeing the Mediterranean. When he is denied passage at a checkpoint during a school trip, he sets off alone on a dangerous, clandestine journey toward the coast. As his father risks everything to find him, the film unfolds as a deeply human story of longing, dignity, and quiet resistance—one that sparked fierce political controversy at home.