A scene from “Seven Blessings.” Photo: Bental Productions and United King Films

The comedic drama Seven Blessings (Sheva Brachot) took home nine prizes at the Ophir Awards, Israel’s equivalent to the Oscars, on Sunday night including best film, which automatically makes it the Jewish state’s submission to the best international film category of the 2024 Academy Awards.

The film from Bental Productions is set in Jerusalem in the early 1990s and focuses on a Jewish Moroccan family wedding. Marie was two years old when her mother gave her to her barren sister to raise, a common custom among Jewish families in Morocco. Forty years later, Marie returns from France to Israel to marry a man she loves.

The film’s title is a nod to the traditional seven Hebrew blessings recited during the wedding ceremony and reception, and then on the next seven nights, where those close to the married couple host special dinners in their honor. But during the week of festivities, secrets and lies are uncovered and an old family wound from the past is resurfaced. The film is in Hebrew, Arabic, French, and the French Moroccan dialect.

“We have a film telling a powerful story about strong women, made by strong, extremely talented women,” Ronen Ben Tal, the founder of Bental Productions and co-producer of the film, told The Algemeiner. “The film deals with sacrifice and compassion, love and forgiveness, motherhood and hidden wounds within a family, and tells a universal and touching story that has not been told ever before about an old tradition similar to surrogacy that was practiced in past, when being infertile was a curse and modern fertility solutions have not yet existed.”

The Ophir Awards are film prizes awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. Seven Blessings by director Ayelet Menachemi — her first film in 16 years — won on Sunday night in the categories of direction, casting, screenplay, leading actress and supporting actress, sound, and makeup. The film received a total of 12 nominations, the most at this year’s award ceremony. Tiki Dayan, who has previously been nominated four times, won her first Ophir Award for best supporting actress, and Raymond Amsalem won the lead actress award after receiving a double nomination in the category for her role in The Future as well.

“We knew and felt that we had a strong tail wind from our fellow members of the academy, but when it arrives in the form of one award after another, especially the one for best film, it was bigger than any dream,” Ronen Ben Tal, the founder of Bental Productions and co-producer on the film, told The Algemeiner on Monday. He added that he feels “excited” about Seven Blessings now being Israel’s submission to the best international film category of the 2024 Academy Awards.

The film was distributed by United King Films in Israel. International sales and US distribution for Seven Blessings have yet to be determined.