Strife in the Streets of New York After Oct. 7
Filmmaker Nim Shapira turned his lens away from the conflict in the Middle East and focused on the battle over posters focusing on hostages taken by Hamas.
Says the director: “My goal was to capture the city’s raw cacophony.”
The documentary Torn bowed on Sept. 5th in New York and Sept. 12 in Los Angeles – with more cities to be announced. For Nim, the film isn’t about the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.
He deliberately keeps footage of Oct. 7th and the war in Gaza to a minimum. It’s a film that doesn’t offer answers; it asks question
“It 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, from Al Jazeera to Fox News,” notes Nim of his film. “My 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.”
Nim explains why he turned his lens away from the conflict in the Middle East and focused on the conflict on the streets of New York.
This film covers a controversial topic
For me, this is about the hostages, and I think this is something that every Jew will tell you: “It could have been us.” It could have been us vacationing in Israel or sleeping in an Airbnb in south Israel or going to a party. So I saw my face in every hostage. Many Jews were really hurting and society didn’t choose to see them or see their pain.
Most impactful moment for you
This is an independent film, and I’m very proud of the number of screenings I’ve had so far. I’m very proud of us releasing it in New York and L.A. And when I say us, it’s me and my small team.
I was able to screen the film in different places, and help create dialogue between people who wouldn’t have otherwise listened to each other. I remember one of the most meaningful screenings was in Berkeley, in private home with 20 people: half Trump voters, half Kamala voters. Instead of taking questions like I usually do, I just listened. They argued, they wrestled with one another. That’s what this film is for. Jewish audiences often come in with grief and recognition, while other audiences bring their own traumas – different, but equally valid.
What amazes me is how the same film sparks such different conversations, depending on the room.
Most importantly, they didn’t agree with one another, but it was a magical moment, and I was proud to see their dialogue.
The most important thing for me was the idea that we couldn’t talk to each other as people. In this day and age, it’s incredibly important for me to connect with the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to connect with them in real life, but online. I have Palestinian friends online, and I talk to them weekly about what’s going on, and we send each other clips, or “Have you seen this?” Or, “What do you think about that?” They share content with me from both Gaza and Israel – stories, footage, perspectives that I may never have encountered otherwise, and I try to do the same for them.
Take away after watching your film?
I have three goals: One is for people to understand that empathy is not limited resource and every person is a soul. Two: I want people to understand that it is possible to hold several truths in your brain. It’s hard, but it’s possible to hold multiple truths because this topic is very complicated. And the third thing is more of a question. Can we have difficult conversations with people that we disagree with?
