Competing for Best Picture are A Matter of Size, a comedy about Israeli sumo wrestlers in Ramle; The Loners, a gritty, fact-based drama about two Russian soldiers sent to military prison; Lebanon, a graphic story of the early days of the first Lebanon War; Ajami, a hard-hitting drama about crime and relations among Jews, Muslims and Christians in Jaffa; and There Were Nights, about a young woman trying to overcome a trauma.

The Best Picture category is very closely watched, because the movie that wins it becomes Israel's official selection to be considered for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Although it is a very competitive category - about 60 countries usually submit movies to be considered for the five available slots - Israel has been nominated for the past two years, for Beaufort and Waltz with Bashir.

In other categories, Renen Schorr, the director of the Sam Spiegel School for Film and Television Studies, is nominated for Best Director for his first movie in over 20 years, The Loners. Also nominated are Roni Ninio for There Were Nights, Shmuelik Maoz for Lebanon, Erez Tadmor and Sharon Maymon for A Matter of Size, and the usual codirecting duo of Scandar Copti, a Christian, and Yaron Shani, a Jew, for Ajami.

In the Best Actor category, newcomer Sasha Agronov is nominated for The Loners, Dror Keren for Five Hours from Paris, Yoav Donat for Lebanon, Itzik Cohen for A Matter of Size, and Yoav Schecter from Povidilia.

Rita Zohar won the Wolgin Award for Best Actress at the Jerusalem Film Festival, for her performance as a lonely widow in a rehab facility in Mrs. Moskowitz and the Cats, and she is one of the frontrunners in the Ophir Award for Best Actress. Dana Ivgy is actually nominated in this category twice, for There Were Nights and Jaffa. The other nominees are Attal Kubianski for Valentina's Mother, Irit Kaplan for A Matter of Size and Raymond Amsalem for Seven Minutes in Heaven.

Strong list to compete for Ophirs