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TORN: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets
After Hamas kidnapped 251 people from Israel on October 7, and as Israel’s war in Gaza unfolded, a conflict thousands of miles away erupted on New York’s walls. TORN captures the emotional fallout of the now-iconic “KIDNAPPED” poster campaign - a grassroots act of solidarity that quickly became a flashpoint, igniting fierce confrontations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian New Yorkers. Through the voices of artists, activists, and hostage families, the film unpacks the motivations behind those putting up and tearing down the posters, exposing a complex proxy war fought in stickers, slogans, and torn paper. By revealing how a distant war fractured daily life in one
Available To Stream: From Fri, Sep 12, 2025 to Tue, Dec 30, 2025
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Stream the film any time during the screening period.
The Film
After Hamas kidnapped 251 people from Israel on October 7, and as Israel’s war in Gaza unfolded, a conflict thousands of miles away erupted on New York’s walls. TORN captures the emotional fallout of the now-iconic “KIDNAPPED” poster campaign - a grassroots act of solidarity that quickly became a flashpoint, igniting fierce confrontations between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian New Yorkers. Through the voices of artists, activists, and hostage families, the film unpacks the motivations behind those putting up and tearing down the posters, exposing a complex proxy war fought in stickers, slogans, and torn paper. By revealing how a distant war fractured daily life in one of the world’s most diverse cities, TORN forces a reckoning with identity, free speech, and empathy in an age of polarization.
Title
TORN: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on NYC Streets
Release
2025
Runtime
75 min
Rating
NR
Genre
Documentary
Director
Nim Shapira
Origin
United States
Language
English
Reviews
Of all the films I saw at the [DocAviv International Documentary Film] festival, Torn stood out as the most urgent and raw in its depiction of the evolving relationship between Israelis, American Jews, and an increasingly diverse urban America-marked by competing moments of solidarity and strain in the global conversation around the Gaza war.
Nim Shapira’s remarkable debut deftly avoids cliché, unraveling how the iconic ‘KIDNAPPED’ posters became a defining symbol of war, a charged act on NYC streets, and a heartfelt dialogue with activists and hostage families living abroad.
Torn powerfully reflects on discourse that often betrays the pain of all sides, venturing beyond Israel-Palestine to probe dialogue in the social media age—while never losing sight of human suffering and the hope of mutual recognition.
Blending social media footage and intimate interviews, Nim Shapira captures grief, anger, and the fight over empathy, identity, and public space in a divided America.
Torn clearly reveals what has been missing for nearly 700 days: empathy. It doesn't set out to solve Middle East peace, but it reminds us of our responsibility to confront indifference and see one another's pain. Grade: 5/5.
Torn is an illuminating, compelling and heartfelt documentary. It serves as a microcosm of systemic issues in the US and around the world: lack of empathy, lack of compassion and lack of safe spaces where people can openly and honestly share their opinions about timely and controversial topics.
Torn is a fascinating film about how images can contain multitudes. It leans toward one side, but not at the expense of the other, and its statement will be divisive - which only proves its success. By challenging viewers to tread the gray areas of complex discourse, the film invites us to see beyond simple narratives.
An essential documentary to watch, Torn begins with Jewish voices in pain after October 7 but ultimately speaks to our fractured inability to have reasonable discussions about difficult subjects. In a world of binary thinking and tribalism, it reminds us that remembering the hostages is about shared humanity, not politics.
TORN is a wrenching, extraordinary, emotional, adrenaline-pumping investigation. Watching it feels like being cinematically kidnapped into the heart of New York's paper war.
A documentary unlike any in recent memory.
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