'Butcher’s Stain' lands Oscars shortlist as Israel shut out of international feature race

An Israeli film, Meyer Levinson-Blount’s Butcher’s Stain, made the Academy Awards shortlist in the Best Live Action Short category. The films on the shortlists were announced Tuesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Butcher’s Stain has already won a Silver Medal in the Narrative category at the 2025 Student Academy Awards, an important achievement for a filmmaker at the beginning of his career. Levinson-Blount studies film at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. Butcher’s Stain is about Samir (Omar Sameer Mahamid), an Arab Israeli working in a supermarket in Tel Aviv, who is accused of tearing down hostage posters in the break room. Samir sets out to prove his innocence to keep this job that he desperately needs.

In the important Best International Feature category, however, in which countries submit one official candidate to be considered, Israel’s choice, The Sea, directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak, did not make the list. The Sea tells the story of a Palestinian boy who wants to visit the beach and who heads for Tel Aviv, and of his father, who must find him before the police do, since neither of them has a permit. The film won five Ophir Awards, including Best Picture, which made it Israel’s submission.

Many praised it as a human story of Palestinian life. In contrast, others, including Culture Minister Miki Zohar, slammed it as being anti-Israel and threatened to withdraw money from the Ophir Awards after its win.  Despite its sympathetic portrayal of Palestinians, the movie was never mentioned as a contender for a shortlist spot.

“It’s very good, and it’s very pro-Palestinian, and it has no chance because it’s from Israel,” a Jewish-American film industry professional who preferred not to be named told me earlier this year. He predicted it would fall victim to the anti-Israel climate in the entertainment industry, following a letter signed by about five thousand film professionals and cultural figures, including Oscar-winning actors such as Emma Stone and Javier Bardem.

By contrast, three films by, about, and from Palestine made this year’s International Feature shortlist, an unprecedented number. These are Palestine 36 by Annemarie Jacir, which was submitted by Palestine. 
. It is a historical drama that explores the 1936–1939 Arab revolt against British colonial rule in Palestine. Its cast features many big names, among them Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons, and two Ophir Award winners, Hiam Abbass, best known for Succession and Lemon Tree, and Saleh Bakri, who was in The Band’s Visit.

Bakri also stars in Jordan’s selection, All That’s Left of You by Cherien Dabis, a multigenerational family epic that follows Palestinians across decades of conflict and identity struggles. Bakri appears opposite his father, Mohammad Bakri, who won an Ophir Award for his performance in the Oscar-nominated Israeli film, Beyond the Walls. He has starred in many international productions, including The Night Of and Tyrant, and directed the controversial documentary Jenin Jenin, which the Israeli government banned.  

The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania is Tunisia’s official entry and focuses on the fact-based story of a girl trapped in a car under IDF fire in Gaza who calls the Red Crescent for help during the war that broke out two years ago. It won the Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival this year and is considered a frontrunner to receive one of the five nominations in this category. One of its stars, Clara Khoury, won two awards from the Israel Television Academy for her performance in the series, Arab Labor.