Israeli screenwriters Moshe Zonder and Ronit Weiss Berkowitz won the award for Best Writing for their series, The German, in the International Competition at Series Mania, the prestigious television festival held in France, on Friday night.
Israeli series have tended to do well at Series Mania, with Rotem Sela and Gal Malka sharing an acting award for A Body That Works in 2023.
The series His Honor and On the Spectrum, both of which were later remade in the United States, won the Grand Prize in the International Competition there in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
When no Israeli series were featured in 2024, that sparked concern in the Israeli television industry since even in years when Israeli shows did not win, they still took part.
So, this major prize for The German sends the message that Israeli television is not going to be frozen out of international competitions.
Holocaust survivors' mission
The series stars Oliver Masucci as Uri and Ania Bukstein as Anna, Holocaust survivors who start a new life in Israel, concealing the scars of their past traumas. After 25 years, the Mossad pressures Uri to infiltrate a group of Nazis in Germany to try to capture the sadistic war criminal Dr. Joseph Mengele.
Alon Aboutboul is also in the cast. Masucci starred in the acclaimed series, Dark, and the film, Chess Story. Bukstein was in False Flag and The Other Widow, and appeared in an episode of Game of Thrones.
Zonder is best known for writing Fauda and Tehran, and Weiss Berkowitz wrote The Girl From Oslo and A Touch Away.
The German was created by Zonder and Weiss Berkowitz, along with Assaf Gil of Gil Formats Ltd. The series will be broadcast on Yes in Israel in April, and Lionsgate TV is handling international sales.
In the French Competition, Elsa Guedj won Best Actress for her performance in Reformed as a woman who wants to become a rabbi.