TORN: The Israel - Palestine Poster War on
New York City Streets

Now in Oscar® For Your Consideration: Best Documentary Feature
After Hamas October 7 attacks and Israel's war in Gaza, New York erupts into a poster war over the kidnapped. TORN captures the symbolic battle for public space - where strangers rip, defend, and rage in the streets, and empathy is the first thing to go.

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Academy Conversations: TORN | Official Oscars Channel

TORN on MSNBC’s Morning Joe

CNN x One World with Zain Asher & Bianna Golodryga

TORN on NEWSNATION’s Morning In America

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.

TORN is an independent feature documentary, filmed and produced in New York City.

Distributed internationally by PBS distribution.

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Thank you @jtanews for this interview: "With hostages home, the filmmaker behind ‘Torn’ says his documentary about NYC’s poster wars remains sadly relevant"
Grateful to Kveller and journalist @lihyphenor for this thoughtful review. Today, with a ceasefire holding and the living hostages finally returning home, TORN takes on new meaning. What began as a story about urgency — freeing the hostages and
@david.cunio.is.home ❤️✡️
Two years ago today, @nitzanmintz & @dedebandaid together with @talhuber created the @kidnappedfromisrael campaign and the posters went up. Faces of strangers who became family - reminders of what was torn from us. Tonight, after two long years,
Deeply honored by this powerful review from @lilithmagazine — an independent, Jewish, and feminist voice since 1976. Read the full review at [lilith.org] Now streaming via [torn-film.com]
TORN is on the move this October 🌍 From Spain to New York, from Denver to online conversations around the world — screenings and dialogues continue to grow. 🗓️ See where we’ll be this month — and join the conversation.
@unpackedmedia - “TORN: The Israel–Palestine Poster War on NYC” Streets is a 2025 documentary directed by Nim Shapira that traces how the conflict in Israel reverberated across New York City’s public spaces. After Hamas’
🗞️ NEW YORK POST FEATURE: “The social fabric of New York was torn apart.” 💻 Now streaming on torn-film.com 🎬 Touring at private screenings across NYC through November
We are LIVE on the official Oscars YouTube channel?! Mind blown 🤯 @theacademy
In two days the @theacademy channel will feature a conversation with us about TORN. Honored (and a little surreal) to have this platform.
LINK IN BIO
Thank you @aishdotcom and @sarahpachter for this powerful article on TORN 📰✨“A haunting portrait of NYC’s poster war, Torn reveals how grief, denial, and dialogue collided on city streets after October 7—turning walls into battlegr