but achieved unprecedented box office success in Israel, drawing almost 1.3 million spectators. New York Times critic A.H. Weiler called the film "more educational than hilarious", and said "Sallah Shabbati and his coterie are an unusual, endearing, often colorful lot, but their humor is largely rudimentary." It won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe Award as Best Foreign Film, and opened and closed the Berlin Film Festival. The film was nominated for a 1964 Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, a first for an Israeli production, but it lost the Oscar to the Italian film, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. The film won best actor (Haim Topol) and best screenplay (Ephraim Kishon) in the 1964 San Francisco International Film Festival. See also List of submissions to the 37th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Israeli submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Bourekas film References External links Sallah Shabati, Israeli Movie Classics 1964 films 1964 comedy films 1960s satirical films Films directed by Ephraim Kishon 1960s Hebrew-language films Films about immigration Films about the kibbutz Israeli comedy films Israeli satirical films Films produced by Menahem Golan