The Ophir Awards, colloquially known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. The award, named after Israeli actor Shaike Ophir, has been granted since 1990.

History

The first Israeli Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1982 with the first award being presented to director Shimon Dotan for the film Repeat Dive, and since 1990 has been held annually at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center. The highest number of Ophir Awards won by a single film is 11, achieved only by Nina's Tragedies. Assi Dayan won the award 8 times and is the only person to have won as a director, as a screenwriter and also as an actor. The winner of the Best Film award usually becomes Israel's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, although exceptions include Aviva My Love (which was rejected in favor of the film it tied with, Sweet Mud) and The Band's Visit, which was disqualified for having more than 50% of its dialogue in English. Israel submitted the runner-up for that year—Beaufort—instead. The latter film was eventually nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The statuette awarded to prize winners was designed by the Israeli sculptor Richard Shiloh, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2011.

List of winners

Awards ceremonies

This is a list of Ophir Award ceremonies.

Ceremonies

Ceremony hosts

The following have hosted (or co-hosted) the Academy Awards ceremony on two or more occasions.