Israeli director Tom Nesher’s film wins top prize at Tribeca Festival

The Tribeca Festival announced Thursday that Come Closer, a movie by Israeli director Tom Nesher, won the Viewpoints Award, the top prize in its category.

The jury said in its statement: “The diverse films of the Viewpoint category inspired all of us to think and feel deeply. However, when choosing a winner, our decision was unanimous. This film pulled us all in from the first few frames, and we felt that we were in skillful hands. It was fiercely executed and superbly performed.”

Tom Nesher said, "I don't have enough words to describe the huge excitement, joy, and pride I feel right now. I give thanks to my talented cast, the production, the festival directors Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, who stood up to the pressure and chose an Israeli film for the festival, and the judges who chose it as the winner." Come Closer is her directorial debut.

Israeli films taking the lead

Israeli films have often won important prizes and critical acclaim at the Tribeca Festival, which was created by Rosenthal, De Niro, and Craig Hatkoff to help revitalize lower Manhattan following the 9/11 terror attack. 

David Volach’s My Father My Lord and Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation each won the Best Narrative Feature Award. Ohad Knoller received the Best Actor Award for Yossi & Jagger, while Shira Haas and Joy Rieger won Best Actress Awards there for the films, Asia and Virgins, respectively.

The Nora Ephron Prize, named in honor of the great American Jewish writer, was given to Israeli directors Ruthy Pribar for Asia and Lavie for Zero Motivation.

But this year, Nesher’s movie was the only film by an Israeli director chosen to take part in the festival, which prompted concern that the organizers may have bowed to pressure from anti-Israel factions to keep the number of Israeli films competing in the festival low this year. 

The festival takes place despite Israel-Hamas war

The festival was held this year amid a rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the US following the October 7 massacre by Hamas and the war in Gaza. 

Just days before Thursday’s prize ceremony, footage was posted on social media of a New York subway train, reportedly at the Union Square station, where masked pro-Hamas protesters chanted in cultlike fashion that any Zionists should identify themselves and leave the train. 

Union Square is just a few stops away from the main venue of the Tribeca Festival.

The Nova Music Festival Exhibition, which commemorates the more than 360 victims murdered at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7, as well as the 40 taken hostage, is also being held near the Tribeca Festival in downtown Manhattan.

Pro-Hamas protesters demonstrated outside the exhibit earlier this week, carrying flags of Hamas’s armed al-Qassam Brigades terror wing and of the terrorist Hezbollah group, and holding signs with slogans that included  “Long live October 7” and “The Zionists are not Jews and not humans.” Protesters called the exhibit "pro-genocide Zionist propaganda."

In addition to being a win for Israel, the prize is a personal triumph for Nesher, whose father, Avi Nesher, is one of Israel’s most acclaimed directors. 

The movie was inspired by the death of her brother, Ari Nesher, in an accident in 2018, although it is not strictly autobiographical. 

It tells the story of Eden (Lia Elalouf), a troubled young woman from an upper-class Tel Aviv family whose brother dies suddenly. In the aftermath of his death, she discovers he had a girlfriend, Maya (Darya Rosen), whom he kept hidden from the family. 

Eden becomes obsessed with Maya and tracks her down, convincing Maya to go with her to Sinai. The two young women are drawn together in an intense bond forged in pain, and their story takes a passionate and dangerous turn.

"In these difficult days, when we see boycotts of Israeli art and huge demonstrations around the world (and in New York in particular), it is a [matter of] great pride for us that the film was chosen to be shown at a prestigious festival like the Tribeca Festival, in the heart of Manhattan,” Nesher said in a statement when the film was accepted to Tribeca.

The lead actresses, Elalouf and Rosen, are both newcomers, and the rest of the cast includes Ido Tako, Yaakov Zada-Daniel, and Neta Garty. Musician Shlomi Shaban also has a role. 

Among the film’s producers is Anthony Bregman, an American producer who has made indie classics such as Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as well as such recent films as Nicole Holofcener’s You Hurt My Feelings and John Carney’s Flora and Son.

Nesher, who has made several acclaimed short films, most recently And Now Shut Your Eyes, and who was a correspondent for Reshet 13, added, “My heart is full of pride for my dear partners in the creation of the film -- the actors and actresses, the crew, and everyone who took part in this long and exciting journey. Our soul is completely invested in this film, which was created out of great pain and with a lot of love for life and their strength. Come Closer is intended for everyone who chooses life, even after loss and endless pain. . . I'm waiting for the day when the film meets the Israeli audience."

The movie is tentatively scheduled to be released in Israel in the fall.