Omar Samir Mahmid, a 30-year-old Palestinian actor from Umm al-Fahm, stars in "Ketem Katzabim" (Butcher's Stain), an Oscar-nominated short film about an Arab butcher falsely accused of tearing down hostage posters at his Tel Aviv supermarket job.
Since the nomination, he says he's been dreaming about "standing before an international audience and giving voice to people like me, Palestinians in Israel—I'll talk about the struggles and the violence and the crime invading our lives."
The film reflects what he and other Palestinians experience daily: being the only Arab worker on set, getting suspicious looks just for existing in Tel Aviv, dealing with racism that intensified after October 7th.
Israel's Culture Minister (a bad joke even in Israel fascist context) immediately called the 26-minute film "anti-Israeli" without watching it - which Mahmid says is irresponsible and dangerous, noting "if he had devoted 26 minutes of his time, we could address his criticism."
He dreams of continuing to make independent films: "I love directing. I want to create independent films and find people who can support this vision so I can share these stories at Arab and international festivals. I hope that one day we'll have our own cinema here, with our own productions and supported by our own people." Until then, he's willing to appear in Israeli productions, but "not at any price. It's very important to me to participate in work that reflects our reality and aligns with my principles."
Hebrew https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/cinema/2026-02-02/ty-article-magazine/.premium/0000019c-1927-d5b8-ad9c-f9af910e0000 or https://archive.ph/rzCvT
