''Waltz with Bashir'' ( he, ואלס עם באשיר, translit. ''Vals Im Bashir'') is a 2008 Israeli adult animated

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

documentary drama film written, produced, and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman's search for lost memories of his experience as a soldier during the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

. The film premiered at the

2008 Cannes Film Festival The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the '' Palme d'Or''. The award ...

, where it competed for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

. Subsequently, it received wide acclaim from critics and audiences alike, with particular praise given to its themes, animation, direction, story, and editing, and grossed over $11 million at the global box office. It won numerous awards, including the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

, the

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Picture is an annual award given by National Society of Film Critics to honor the best film of the year. History Since it was established in 1966, the Society has only agreed with the Academy Awar ...

, the

César Award for Best Foreign Film This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Foreign Film (french: César du meilleur film étranger). Winners and nominees 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Awards by nation Notes See also *Lumières A ...

, and the

International Documentary Association International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmm ...

Award for Best Feature Documentary, and was nominated for many more, including the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. ''Bashir'' and the

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames ...

'' $9.99'', both released in 2008, were the first Israeli feature-length animated films released theatrically since ''

Joseph the Dreamer Joseph (; he, יוֹסֵף, , He shall add; Standard: ''Yōsef'', Tiberian: ''Yōsēp̄''; alternatively: יְהוֹסֵף, lit. 'Yahweh shall add'; Standard: ''Yəhōsef'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōsēp̄''; ar, يوسف, Yūsuf; grc, Ἰωσ� ...

'' in 1962.

Plot

In 2006, Ari Folman meets with Boaz, an old friend who tells Ari he is being haunted by a recurrent nightmare in which 26 rabidly angry dogs run toward his home through the streets of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, destroying everything in their way. Boaz explains that, during the

, the other soldiers in his unit knew he would not be able to murder a human, so they gave him the job of killing the dogs when they infiltrated a village at night so the animals would not alert the villagers to their presence, and he vividly remembers each of the 26 dogs he killed. Ari is surprised to find that, although he had also fought in the conflict during his stint as an infantry soldier in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, he recalls nothing of his deployment. Troubled by this, later that night he has a vision of his younger self and two other soldiers bathing at night in the water just off the coast of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

under the light of flares descending over the city. He recognizes the vision as being connected to the

Sabra and Shatila massacre The Sabra and Shatila massacre (also known as the Sabra and Chatila massacre) was the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanese ...

, but he cannot remember enough to put this fragment in context. Early the next morning, Ari rushes off to see a childhood friend, who is a professional therapist. His friend advises him to seek out others who were in Beirut at the time of the massacre to gain a better understanding of what happened and, hopefully, revive his own memories. The friend further explains that, given the nature of human memory, the vision might not be an exact record of what actually occurred, though it certainly deals with matters of great importance to Ari's inner world. Ari interviews friends and other soldiers who fought in the war, as well as a psychologist specializing in

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

and Israeli TV reporter

Ron Ben-Yishai Ron Ben-Yishai ( he, רון בן-ישי; born October 26, 1943) is an Israeli journalist. A veteran war correspondent, Ben-Yishai has covered many military conflicts in several different regions. In 2018, he won the Israel Prize, Israel's most ...

, who was in Beirut covering the war when the massacre took place. Eventually, Ari's memories start to come back into focus, and he remembers that he "was in the second or third ring" of soldiers involved in the massacre, as his unit fired flares into the sky at night in support of the Israeli-allied

Lebanese Christian Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical Scriptures purport that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was ...

Phalange The phalanges (singular: ''phalanx'' ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. ...

militia while they perpetrated the massacre. While he did not know what the militia was up to until after they were finished, he concludes that the holes in his memory were a defense mechanism, since his younger self had felt as responsible for the massacre as those who actually carried it out. The film ends with the animation dissolving into actual news footage of the aftermath of the massacre.

Cast

Most of the interview subjects look very similar in real life and in the film, but two of Ari Folman's friends asked that he have an actor rerecord their interviews and have the animators not base the design of their character on their actual appearance. * Ari Folman, an Israeli filmmaker who recently finished his

military reserve A military reserve, active reserve, reserve formation, or simply reserve, is a group of military personnel or units that is initially not committed to a battle by its commander, so that it remains available to address unforeseen situations or ex ...

service. Some twenty years before, he served in the IDF during the Lebanon War. * Boaz Rein-Buskila (voiced by Miki Leon), an accountant and Israeli Lebanon War veteran suffering from nightmares. * Ori Sivan, an Israeli filmmaker who previously co-directed two films with Folman and is his long-time friend. * Carmi Can'an (voiced by

Yehezkel Lazarov Yehezkel Lazarov ( he, יחזקאל לזרוב Y'ḥezeqel Lazarov; born 8 February 1974) is an Israeli actor, director, and multidisciplinary artist. In 2022 he was elected to serve as the head of the school of Performing Arts at the Kibbutzim Sem ...

), an Israeli Lebanon War veteran who once was Folman's friend and now lives in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Carmi chose to be a combat soldier to prove his masculinity, but, in response to Folman's remark that he was expected to excel in science, testifies that, after the war, "he could be nobody". * Ronny Dayag, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran and high food engineer. During the war, he was a Merkava tank crewman. Dayag testifies that, as the only survivor of an ambush on his unit, he suffers from survivor's guilt. * Shmuel Frenkel, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran who was in Ari Folman's infantry unit. By interviewing Frenkel, Folman learns he had repressed the fact that, at one point, his company were confronted by and killed a boy who had an RPG. The title of the film comes from a scene in which the unit is under heavy fire and Frenkel forcefully takes another soldier's MAG, goes into the open, and fires wildly, in "some sort of trance" as he "waltzes" between enemy bullets with Bashir's image on posters in the background. * Zahava Solomon, an Israeli psychologist and researcher in the field of

psychological trauma Psychological trauma, mental trauma or psychotrauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events, such as accidents, rape, or natural disasters. Reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typical ...

. Zahava provides professional analysis for some events in the movie, using clinical terms. For example, she explains that Folman's confrontation with the boy with the RPG was forgotten because his brain used a defence mechanism called dissociation. She further illustrates the mechanism with an example of a past patient of hers, who was a photographer in that war. At some point, his dissociation ceased to work and he lost his mind. *

, an Israeli journalist who was the first to cover the

. * Dror Harazi, an Israeli Lebanon War veteran. During the war, he commanded a tank that was stationed outside the Shatila refugee camp during the massacre.

Title

The film takes its title from a scene in which Shmuel Frenkel, one of the interviewees and the commander of Folman's infantry unit at the time of the film's events, grabs a

general purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered f ...

and "dances an insane

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

" (to the tune of Chopin's Waltz in C-sharp minor) amid heavy enemy fire on a Beirut street festooned with huge posters of Bashir Gemayel. The title also refers to Israel's short-lived political waltz with Bashir Gemayel as president of Lebanon.

Production

The film took four years to complete. It is unusual, as it is a feature-length documentary that, excluding one short segment of archival news footage at the end, consists entirely of

animation Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

. Stylistically, it combines

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

, 1980s music, realistic graphics, and surrealistic scenes together with illustrations similar to

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

. The animation, with its dark hues representing the overall feel of the film, uses a unique style invented by Yoni Goodman at the Bridgit Folman Film Gang studio in Israel. The technique is often confused with

rotoscoping Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced o ...

, an animation style in which the drawings are done over live footage, but is actually a combination of

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Flash ...

cutouts and classic animation. Each drawing was sliced into hundreds of pieces that were moved in relation to one another to create the illusion of movement. The film was first constructed as a 90-minute video using live-action footage shot in a sound studio, and then turned into

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in t ...

s and

animatic A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in th ...

s. From there, 2,300

illustrations An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

were drawn based on the storyboards, which were used to create the actual film scenes using Flash animation, classic animation, and 3D technologies. The comics medium, in particular Joe Sacco, the novels ''

Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non- ...

'', '' The Adventures of Wesley Jackson'', and '' Slaughterhouse-Five'', and painter Otto Dix, were mentioned by Folman and art director

David Polonsky David Polonsky (born 1973) is an Israeli book illustrator and artistic film director. His illustrations appeared in all major Israeli magazines and newspapers and illustrated many children's books, for which he received multiple awards. He also d ...

as influences on the film. The film itself was adapted into a graphic novel in 2009. The score for the film was composed by minimalist electronic musician

Max Richter Max Richter (; ; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinburg ...

, while the featured songs are by OMD ("

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it ...

"), PiL (" This is Not a Love Song"), Navadey Haukaf (נוודי האוכף, or "Good Morning Lebanon", which was written for the film), Haclique ("Incubator"), and Zeev Tene ("Beirut", which is a remake of the

Cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate ...

song "I Bombed Korea"). Some reviewers view the music as playing an active role in the film, commentating on events, rather than simply accompanying them.

Release

''Waltz with Bashir'' opened in five theaters in the United States on 25 December 2008, grossing $50,021 in its first weekend. By the end of its run, on 14 May 2009, it had grossed $2,283,849 at the domestic box office. Overseas, ''Waltz'' earned $8,842,000, for a worldwide total of $11,125,849.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds a "fresh" rating based on reviews from critics, for an average rating of ; the site's "critics consensus" states: "A wholly innovative, original, and vital history lesson, with pioneering animation, ''Waltz With Bashir'' delivers its message about the Middle East in a mesmerizing fashion." On Metacritic, the film holds a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 91/100 based on 33 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' named the film the tenth best of the year, based on the site's annual survey of 100 film critics. Xan Brooks of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' called it "an extraordinary, harrowing, provocative picture." The film was praised for "inventing a new cinematographic language" at the

Tokyo Filmex TOKYO FILMeX (東京フィルメックス) is an international film festival established in 2000. The film festival was launched by Office Kitano, the agency and production company co-founded by leading actor-filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. TOKYO FI ...

festival. The World Socialist Web Site's David Walsh described it as a "painfully honest" anti-war film and "one of the most extraordinary and haunting films at the Toronto film festival." Despite the positive critical reception, the film was only moderately commercially successful in Israel itself.The "Waltz with Bashir" Two-Step
. Hillel Halkin. ''

Commentary Magazine ''Commentary'' is a monthly American magazine on religion, Judaism, and politics, as well as social and cultural issues. Founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945 under Elliot E. Cohen, editor from 1945 to 1959, ''Commentary'' magazine de ...

''. March 2009. Several writers described the film as part of the Israeli "

shooting and crying "Shooting and crying" ( ''yorim ve bochim'') is an expression used to describe books, films or other forms of media that portray soldiers expressing remorse for actions they were ordered to undertake during their service. It has often been associa ...

" tradition (where soldiers express remorse about their actions, but do not do anything concrete to remedy the situation), but Folman has disputed this.

Lebanon screening

The film is banned in some Arab countries (including Lebanon), with the harshest criticism in Lebanon, as the film depicts a vague and violent time in Lebanon's history. A movement of bloggers, among them the Lebanese Inner Circle and +961, have rebelled against the Lebanese government's ban of the film, and have managed to get the film seen by local Lebanese critics. In defiance of the government's request to ban it, the film was privately screened in

in January 2009 in front of 90 people. Since then, many screenings have taken place, and unofficial copies of the film are also available in the country. Folman saw the screening as a source of great pride: "I was overwhelmed and excited. I wish I could have been there. I wish one day I'll be able to present the film myself in Beirut. For me, it will be the happiest day of my life."

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008, including: * 1st – Ella Taylor, ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose par ...

'' * 1st – Stephen Farber, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' * 2nd – Andrea Gronvall, ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' * 2nd – Andrew O'Hehir, ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

'' * 3rd – Michael Phillips, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' * 4th –

Christy Lemire Christy A. Lemire (née Nemetz; born August 30, 1972) is an American film critic and host of the movie review podcast ''Breakfast All Day''. She previously wrote for the Associated Press from 1999 to 2013, was a co-host of ''Ebert Presents at ...

, ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

'' * 4th –

Lisa Schwarzbaum Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a film critic in the 1990s and remained there until February 2013. Career She has been featured on CNN, co-hosted '' Siskel & Ebert at the Mo ...

, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' * 5th –

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at '' The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

, ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' * 5th – Lawrence Toppman, ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

'' * 6th – Liam Lacey, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' * 7th – David Edelstein, ''New York'' magazine * 7th – Marc Savlov, ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' * 8th – Sheri Linden, ''

'' * 9th – David Ansen, ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' (tied with '' WALL-E'') * 9th – Frank Scheck, ''

'' * 9th – Joe Morgenstern, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' * 9th – Peter Rainer, ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' * 9th – Rick Groen, ''

'' * 10th – Kenneth Turan, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' (tied with ''WALL-E'') * 10th –

Lou Lumenick Louis J. Lumenick (born September 11, 1949) is an American film critic. He was the chief film critic and film editor for the '' New York Post'' where he reviewed films from 1999 until his retirement in 2016. He is currently researching the histo ...

, ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' * 10th – Scott Foundas, ''

'' (tied with ''WALL-E'') It was also ranked #34 in ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010, and #4 in

Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smal ...

's "

50 Documentaries to See Before You Die 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

" in 2011.

Awards and nominations

''Waltz with Bashir'' was the first animated film to receive a nomination for the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

and the second to be nominated for the

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

for

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

's ''

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

'' was the first a year prior). It was also the first R-rated animated film to be considered for those honors. The film was the first Israeli winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film since ''

The Policeman ''The Policeman'' ( he, השוטר אזולאי, HaShoter Azoulay, lit=The Policeman Azoulay) is a 1971 Israeli feature film, written and directed by satirist Ephraim Kishon. The title character is played by Shaike Ophir (credited as Shay K. Ophi ...

'' (1971), and the first documentary to win the award. Although submitted for the

Academy Award for Best Animated Feature The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by- ...

, it failed to be nominated, and it became ineligible for the

Academy Award for Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to '' Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. They have since been best ...

when the Academy announced a new rule stating that only documentaries with a qualifying run in both New York and Los Angeles by 31 August could be nominated. The film was included in the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

's list of the Top Five Foreign Films of 2008. It received nominations for Annie and

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

for Best Animated Feature, but lost to '' Kung Fu Panda'' and '' WALL-E'', respectively. Folman won the WGA's Best Documentary Feature Screenplay award and the DGA's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary award for his work on the film.

References

External links

* * * * * * , "france24english", 16 May 2008.
Sebastian Musch: Freud in Beirut - Mechanisms of Trauma in Waltz with Bashir
{{Authority control 2008 films 2008 animated films 2008 documentary films Animated documentary films Animated drama films Flash animated films Anti-war films Best Animated Feature Film Asia Pacific Screen Award winners Best Foreign Film César Award winners Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners César Award winners Films scored by Max Richter Films about amnesia Films about the Israel Defense Forces Films set in 1982 Films set in 2006 Films set in Beirut Films set in Tel Aviv 2000s Hebrew-language films Israeli animated films Israeli documentary films Israeli–Lebanese conflict films Israeli–Palestinian conflict films 2000s French animated films Film controversies Film controversies in Israel Film controversies in Lebanon Obscenity controversies in film German animated films Lebanese Civil War films Sony Pictures Classics animated films 2000s political films 2000s war films Docuwar films Rotoscoped films National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film winners Films directed by Ari Folman French adult animated films 2000s German films