Another women-directed feature is joining the Oscar race. Israel has chosen to submit “Sand Storm” to represent the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2017 Academy Awards, TheWrap reports. Elite Zexer’s award-winning drama takes place in a Bedouin village in the Israeli dessert.
“Sand Storm” follows an 18-year-old girl whose forbidden love affair is discovered by her mother. The romance — and what the teen is willing to do to protect it — has life-changing consequences for everyone involved.
“The biggest challenge I faced was making a film about a culture that is not my own,” Zexer told Women and Hollywood. “The traditions, beliefs, customs, language — all were very different from mine. While understanding that this is something I could never bypass or ignore, and by this I mean that this film will always be from an outsider, I still wanted to give it my best shot and have it feel as if it were an internal voice.” Consequently, Zexer spent years getting to know girls and women “who went through the experiences portrayed in [the] film.”
“Sand Storm” was named the best Israeli film of 2016 at the Ophir Awards, the Israeli Oscars. TheWrap writes, “While different countries have different ways of selecting their Oscar entries, Israel automatically sends the Ophir winner. The ceremony took place on Thursday.” “Sand Storm” is also nominated for best debut film at the upcoming European Film Awards (EFA). The winner will be announced at the EFA ceremony on December 10. “Sand Storm” made its World Premiere at Sundance Film Festival, where it took home the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize.
TheWrap notes that Zexer “is the second female director in the last three years to represent Israel at the Oscars, following the late Ronit Elkabetz, who co-directed ‘Gett, the Trial of Viviane Absalem’ with her brother Shlomi.”
Greece recently selected Athina Rachel Tsangari’s dark comedy “Chevalier” for Oscar contention. Germany has submitted Maren Ade’s Cannes hit “Toni Erdmann, and New Zealand will be represented by Pietra Brettkelly’s “A Flickering Truth,” which centers on the preservation of film archives in Afghanistan.
“Sand Storm” opens in theaters September 28 in NY and October 7 in LA.
