EXCLUSIVE: Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has closed German, Spanish and Dutch theatrical deals on Shai Carmeli-Pollak’s Israeli-Palestinian dram
EXCLUSIVE: Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has closed German, Spanish and Dutch theatrical deals on Shai Carmeli-Pollak’s Israeli-Palestinian drama The Sea, a year after the film won the best picture prize at Israel’s Ophir Awards.
Busch Media Group has acquired the film for Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, Cinemaran for Spain and Echoes on the Map for the Netherlands. Further TV deals are under negotiation.
The deals mark a turnaround for a film that initially encountered considerable difficulties in the international marketplace despite its success at home.
The Arabic-Hebrew language feature is an Israeli production led by Palestinian-Israeli producer Baher Agbariya. Set between the West Bank and Israel, it follows 12-year-old Khaled whose dream of seeing the sea becomes an odyssey through checkpoints, borders and concealed barriers. When Khaled disappears while trying to reach the coast, his father embarks on a desperate search, putting both his livelihood and safety at risk.
The Sea’s Ophir Awards victory prompted a backlash from Israel’s culture minister, who threatened to withdraw state funding from the awards.
At the same time, the film’s Israeli financing complicated its international sales prospects.
Screen understands The Sea was initially taken on by another international sales company, but after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the company struggled to secure sales because the film had received Israeli public funding and eventually returned it to the filmmakers.
With no dedicated international sales company attached, producer Agbariya continued representing the film himself and secured distribution in North America, France, Italy and Australia. The film is now on release in French cinemas.
Coccinelle Film Sales then boarded the film in May 2026 and began reintroducing it to international buyers, building on a powerful theatrical response in Italy and bringing the focus back to the film’s core story of a child, a father and a plain dream of seeing the sea.
The Sea won the best picture, actor, supporting actor, screenplay and score prizes at the Ophir Awards and was selected as Israel’s submission for the Academy Awards.
The film is directed by Jewish Israeli filmmaker and peace activist Carmeli-Pollak and produced by Agbariya, whose credits include Hany Abu-Assad’s Oscar-nominated Omar.
Simon Busch, managing director of Busch Media Group, said: “In times when walls seem to grow ever higher, The Sea reminds us of what unites us all: the hope of a child and the love of a father. Its focus is not on conflict, but on building bridges. Where there is humanity, there is hope. That Jewish and Palestinian filmmakers created this film together shows that a peaceful future is possible.”
