May 6, 2025
By Stephen Silver as published in Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
As part of Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media’s first-ever Jewish Resilience Film and Media Series, the Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History hosted a showing of the documentary “Torn,” followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and several subjects of the film, on April 27.
“Torn,” directed by Israeli-American filmmaker Nim Shapira, is another of the many documentaries produced about Oct. 7 and the events that followed. The focus this time is on the “Kidnapped” posters, featuring pictures of the hostages, that appeared first in New York and then in cities in the U.S. and around the world, as well as the many incidents, some of which resulting in viral videos, of other people tearing the posters down.
The documentary looks at how the poster campaign was created and spread, the clashes that followed in various cities, and the often thorny questions about freedom of speech and expression that followed both.
On hand for a panel discussion afterward were Shapira and several people who appeared in the film: Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz, the Israeli street artists who created the campaign; Alana Zeitchik, executive director of The Narrow Bridge Project and the family member of multiple hostages, and Aaron Terr, public advocacy director for the Philadelphia-based FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression). Rabbi Abe Friedman, of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel, moderated the discussion.
Bandaid performs his art pseudonymously, and always wears a mask over most of his face, including both in the film and on the panel; Mintz is his wife, who works under her real name. Accomplished street artists in Israel, they were in New York for an artist residency on Oct. 7, and subsequently created the “Kidnapped” campaign.
“It was something that burned inside us to go and do outside, and let people know and see and understand,” Dede Bandaid said on the panel of the “Kidnapped” campaign. “Of course, we wanted to bring awareness, we felt so far and isolated,” he added, as they had just arrived in New York shortly before the attacks.
“Our art practice, as street artists, led us to this moment,” Mintz said. “So life prepared us for this moment in many ways. This is the reason why we thought about the posters to begin with, because working in the streets as artists is so natural for us. Because this is the way we know how to communicate with the public.”
The duo has stayed in the U.S. much longer than originally planned.
“It’s all happy happy joy joy — we’re being boycotted,” Mintz said. “No gallery will show our works now. … That’s life, we deal with it, we live, and we try to survive.”
The street art community, including Bandaid’s fellow masked and anonymous artist Banksy, tends not to be the most pro-Israel of cohorts. They have also had to move seven different times, Mintz said, due to threats.
Shapira, the filmmaker, said on the panel that the film has had “a hard time” getting into many standard or documentary film festivals, although it has often been shown to specifically Jewish audiences.
“I have this cognitive dissonance inside myself, and find myself being maybe more politically homeless than ever,” Shapira said. “There are so many important stories to be told after Oct. 7, and as someone that lived in Brooklyn for 11 years, I felt that I had to explore this. I didn’t understand why people are tearing down a poster of a nine-month-old baby, so that’s why I wanted to make the film.
“Multiple things can be true at the same time,” Shapira added. “It’s something that so many people around the world, in this day and age, can’t fathom.”
Zeitchik, the relative of hostages, talked about how her work with the Narrow Bridge Project is aimed toward fostering better discussions.
“As a community, we are lacking in these close personal relationships that make it easier to have differing political views,” Zeitchik said. “I felt like, when I was going through what I was going through, my community couldn’t properly support me in a unified way. Not in a uniform way. … I saw that fracture, and it pained me, and I think we should be focused on getting to know each other a little bit better.”
Terr, from FIRE, discussed the civil liberties questions addressed by the film’s subject matter, as well as the overarching climate when it comes to the conflict.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been one of the most polarizing issues in this country and, I think, in particular on college campuses, and one of the issues that students on both sides of the issue feel particularly passionate about,” Terr said on the panel.
“Unfortunately, it’s also resulted in a lot of censorship. Because when people feel that strongly and [passionately] about the issue, and are so confident that their side is entirely correct, it tends to result in a greater eagerness to silence the other side.
“It’s tough because it’s really been a mix of peaceful protest and pro-Palestinian advocacy, but also, no doubt, many of those protests got out of hand, there was violence, there was vandalism, there were building occupations, there were threats and harassment against Jewish students,” Terr said. “But I think, unfortunately, that both college administrators and now the federal government have not done a particularly good job of differentiating those two things. At the same time, they don’t do enough to stop the unlawful conduct, and they do too much to stop the constitutionally protected speech.”
“Torn” was preceded by a five-minute short film called “Anything Is Possible.” Directed by 18-year-old Nate Berman, the film looks at Blake Peters, the only Jewish player on Princeton’s basketball team that made the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2023. The film follows both Peters’ basketball career and his experience on campus following the Oct. 7 attacks.
During the Q&A, Berman’s father asked the panel for advice, especially for members of Gen Z, “where the battleground is,” on how to form bridges with people.
“There is a marathon, we’re gonna run, it’s not a sprint,” Nitzan Mintz answered. “Be patient, you’ll have your moment. Maybe this is not the right time, but you’re going to have a long, beautiful life, and you will make a difference. Just be very patient. Imagine yourself as a drop of water, you will melt the rock.”
“Patience is exactly the word,” Zeitchik said. “But you start small, with one or two people, and speak your truth, speak honestly and openly, hold space for as much as you possibly can.”
According to a flyer distributed at the event, the Weitzman and Philly JFM will host a showing of another documentary about the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, Wendy Sachs’ “October 8,” on Wednesday, June 4, at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale May 5.