The final nominees for the television awards competition of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television were announced on Monday.
The Israeli television awards feature a dizzying list of categories – 45 in all, far more than the Golden Globes – but in the main categories, television viewers from around the world will recognize many of the titles and names, since several have aired on Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV + and other platforms.
The real competition in the Israeli television industry in recent years is over which series will get picked up and/or remade abroad and the awards will surely help, since with 45 categories, every series should win something.
The Best Drama nominees are Valley of Tears, about the Yom Kippur War; The Chef, set in a restaurant; Tehran, a spy story; Manayak, a gritty police procedural; and Shtisel, the internationally popular look at an ultra-Orthodox family in Jerusalem.
The Comedy-Drama Series nominees are The Big, Special Thing, about a woman who discovers she is suffering from a serious illness; Rehearsals, the story of a theatrical couple who have broken up but are forced to work together; Significant Other, about a couple who drive each other crazy; Into the Night, about a veteran radio show host who works on a program with a younger woman; and Stockholm, the story of a Nobel Prize winner whose friends conceal the fact that he has died.
In the sitcom category, the nominees are The Legacy, about a widowed farmer whose adult children move back home; Nevsu, a look at a marriage between an Ethiopian man and a Moroccan woman; Sabri Maranan, about family get togethers; Checkout, set in a supermarket; and Ron, about a lovable loser.
The Best Actress in a Drama category features both Shira Haas and Neta Riskin from Shtisel, Niv Sultan from Tehran, Liraz Chamami from Manayak and Yael Elkana from The Chef.
The Best Actor in Drama nominees are Guri Alfi and Gal Toren in The Chef, Doval’e Glickman in Shtisel, Roy Nik in Normal and Shalom Assayag in Manayak.
In a broadcast aired live on Kan 11 and Facebook, television personality Dafna Lustig and Nadav Ambon, creative manager and first director of Kan Digital, announced the nominees from a previously released short list.
The awards ceremony, which will also be broadcast on Kan 11, will take place on April 11 in a show hosted by Yaniv Biton.