Atlanta Jewish Film Festival: Torn

A grassroots campaign to raise awareness about hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attacks, ignites a volatile ideological battle on the streets of New York. Designed by Israeli artists Nitzan Mintz and Dede Bandaid, the hostage posters become lightning rods, sparking confrontations between pro- and anti-Israel activists. As skirmishes escalate, the city becomes a battlefield of raw emotion and entrenched ideology, where putting up and tearing down posters symbolically reflects the weight of solidarity and division. Through vérité footage from social media and TV news, paired with activist, hostage family, and community voice interviews, this galvanizing account unveils both the motivations driving a paper proxy war and the raw power of public symbols.