A New Documentary Reveals the War on New York City's Streets

A new documentary titled "Torn" is giving audiences a raw, unfiltered look at the street clashes in New York City over the "KIDNAPPED FROM ISRAEL" poster campaign. Directed by American-Israeli filmmaker Nim Shapira, the film deliberately minimizes war footage and instead focuses on the local, grassroots campaign and the intense confrontations between pro-Israel supporters hanging posters and pro-Hamas activists tearing them down.

Shapira told The Hollywood Reporter that his goal was to "capture the city’s raw cacophony, alive, grieving, angry, divided, so the film feels immediate, messy, and contradictory, just like New York itself.” The documentary "zigzags between hostage families, protests, social media feeds, rabbis, activists, civil libertarians, and people doxxed for tearing posters down, while layering in news coverage from across the spectrum."

The film features a diverse cast of people affected by the war. Julia Simon Simon, a Parsons School of Design student, appears prominently after her childhood friend Omer Neutra was killed by Hamas. Social worker Elisha Fine documents his activism while chronicling the awareness campaign's oral history. Hostage families, rabbis, and an anonymous "Bandaid artist" are also featured, all grappling with their identity and grief in a city grappling with division.

Critics have praised "Torn" for its emotional depth and fast-paced production. The eye-opening film is Shapira's first feature-length documentary, co-written with editor Shay Mizrahy, who has a background in reality TV shows like "The Voice" and "Survivor." The film has already been screened at several major festivals, including the Chelsea Film Festival's East Coast Premiere, the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, and the Miami Jewish Film Festival.