Ophir-nominated filmmaker Avi Nesher returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with ‘Our Loves,’ a film set on October 7. This is Nesher’s first time back at TIFF since presenting ‘The Other Story’ in 2018.
“It’s a movie about humanity,” Nesher says. “It’s a movie about people.”
In this conversation, Avi Nesher discusses the journey of ‘Our Loves’ to the Toronto International Film Festival, his surprise and pride at having the film selected during a challenging period for Israeli cinema, and the significance of its world premiere taking place during Rosh Hashanah. He explains why he does not consider the film an October 7 movie, instead describing it as a story about people confronting personal struggles, unresolved wounds, and the need to rethink their lives in the aftermath of catastrophe. Nesher also discusses the film’s casting process and his collaborative approach to working with actors, the challenges of shooting in Israel’s summer heat, the film’s editing process, and what he hopes audiences take away from a story centered on the humanity and individuality of its characters.
In ‘Our Loves,’ five ordinary people, each caught in a failing relationship and convinced they’re experiencing the worst day of their lives, suddenly find themselves facing the October 7 terrorist attack that puts their personal struggles into perspective. In its aftermath, each must confront unresolved wounds, seek redemption, and find a path toward a new beginning.
Written and directed by Avi Nesher, ‘Our Loves’ stars Shalom Michaelshvili, Magi Azarzar, Yaniv Biton, Lena Fraifeld, Daniel Gimpel, Noa Cohen, Evelin Hagoel, Hadas Yaron, Chancela “Sean” Mongoza, Hisham Suleiman, and Amir Banai.
Following its release in Israeli theaters last week, ‘Our Loves’ holds its international premiere this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival. Future screenings include the Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema.
Awards Focus: It’s so nice to talk to you again. How are you doing?
Avi Nesher: Good. How are you?
AF: It’s hard to believe that Rosh Hashanah is coming up, but I’m doing well.
Avi Nesher: Yes, I’ll be traveling to Toronto on Rosh Hashanah. I hope G-d will not be angry with me, but I think I’m done doing it for the cause.
AF: Yeah. I was surprised that they scheduled the world premiere on Rosh Hashanah.
Avi Nesher: Well, I was surprised that TIFF scheduled this whole thing. From experience, I know that you must pretty much show your movie on the first weekend, right? Because most people are gone after the first weekend. So, yeah, this is but—it’s we do what we have to do.
AF: At a time when so many Israeli filmmakers are finding challenges in getting films into festivals, how honored are you that ‘Our Loves’ was selected for TIFF?
Avi Nesher: I must say I was extremely surprised. I was very proud of TIFF. I’ve been there five times before and I love this festival. I know there was a time when no Israeli movies or no Israeli movies that do not express a very extreme political opinion were shown. I always found TIFF as one of the great four festivals. There’s Venice, Toronto, Cannes and Berlin. And for me, the European festivals were always very politically oriented.
If the movies were just right politically, they would show your movie. And if it was not, they would not. TIFF for me was always about filmmaking. It was a filmmakers’ fest. It was a joy because, I mean, when I would have my movies selected, I would come there and I would see movies of Arabic filmmakers that I could not see anywhere else. They were pure cinema and the ideology could be to my liking or not. It didn’t matter.
But the cinema itself, the language of cinema, the art of cinema was always so fascinating. I’m overjoyed that I’m back in Toronto and I could not be prouder of these people. Really, as they say in Hebrew, Kol Hakavod.
AF: There have been numerous October 7-related documentaries but very few narrative titles. How long after October 7 did you decide you needed to make a film about the events?
Avi Nesher: Well, I don’t consider ‘Our Loves’ an October 7th film. For me, a catastrophe such as October 7 needs to be dealt by historians or journalists or, perhaps, documentary filmmakers that have 8 hours at their disposal. For me, it’s a movie about people. When October 7 happened in Israel, I was really hit very, very hard, like everybody else. I know the pain of losing someone dear because I lost a son six years ago and I know that the wound really never heals. I was afraid for the survival of Israel practically and then I never wanted to make a movie about October 7, but I met so many people who had problems before and then this thing came.
We’ve had a very difficult time politically in Israel for the year before 2023 and it’s been a very very rough year for Israel and then this happened and I just met a lot of people who had many emotional problems and several people who thought that October 6 was the epitome of badness—the very worst year that they could possibly have negative and I thought it’s really interesting to gain perspective from life, to rethink your life, and it’s almost like you have to fight for survival, obviously, but maybe, you’ve got to do something differently.
Maybe your life didn’t go wrong just because that’s life. Maybe you did something wrong. I was very fascinated by people. I mean, all those people in the movie are people I’ve met—their problems are their real problems. I was very fascinated by the way they dealt with it. So for me, it’s a movie about humanity. It’s a movie about people. It’s about the way you understand your life, the way you recompute your life. It’s not an October 7 as a political phenomenon or a military phenomenon. It’s a movie about people.
AF: Yeah, one thing I thought about while I was watching the film the other day was that Israelis are people, too and they and people should see the humanity in them.
Avi Nesher: I’m always flabbergasted when people have this double standard. For example, I grew up in New York City. My father was a diplomat and I remember there were all those marches against the Vietnam War, against the government, the military, but nobody would ever dream of boycotting American cinema or American literature or American music. The very idea would be considered outlandish and the very fact that Israeli art is being boycotted is shocking and borders again on antisemitism.
It’s just so bizarre. Iranian art is not is not boycotted. Syrian art is not boycotted. It’s almost like how the Nazis treated Jews as subhuman. Now I’m not making a comparison, but it’s an awful feeling to be taken for something that completely you are not. And to add insult to injury, during this whole year, throughout 2023, half of the country was fighting the good fight to keep Israel democratic. And as you know, people usually are on vanguard of any such struggle. And to kneecap them when they’re struggling for a democratic Israel just seems to be insane. And of course, you have all those conspiracy theories who’s behind it and why it’s done. I never speak about things that I don’t see with my own eyes and I don’t know, but it’s just very upsetting.
AF: How did the cast come together?
Avi Nesher: Well, from my very first movie, I always trusted actors implicitly. I love actors and I don’t like directing actors as though they have to do what I say. For me, actors are people that I collaborate with. The young woman who plays Sapir, for example, she knows much more than I do about being an Orthodox young woman because she comes from an Orthodox family.
I write a screenplay and I involved these people in the process of rewriting and rehearsing and rewriting again. When I cast, I mean, I don’t mind if they are known actors or unknown actors. I use a lot of stand-up comedians because stand-up comedians, don’t have set text. They just tell an extreme truth. The whole Lenny Bruce thing. I mean, you say tough things about your audience, tough things about yourself, you say tough truths. So, I kind of seek a truth.
I use actors who can really take inside and bring out stuff they know more about than I do and the results are usually pleasing. From my very first movie many years ago to this one, my actors completely identify with the characters. I rarely get a bad day because nobody is acting. People are being, not acting. That’s the way I normally act. I look for partners, not for pirate hands.
AF: What was the most challenging aspect of making the film?
Avi Nesher: The summer in Israel. I mean, have you been to Israel?
AF: Yeah, I was there in 2007 and again in March 2024. Well, 2007 was in the summer because that’s when I went on Birthright Israel.
Avi Nesher: You remember how hot it is. You do 14-hour days at 98-99 degrees. Complicated scenes, complicated situations. Not one easy scene, not one relaxing scene, not one just having a little gentle dialogue, camera moving all the time, exes moving all the time. Every shot has to be just right. Very, very challenging.
The whole country is still shaken by October 7. It was a challenging process. Again, actors being totally committed, every take being a good take. If you can say you want to finish, you can do with fewer shots. You can do with one shots. You can do complicated shots. People hit their marks.
It was a chore because it wasn’t an easy time to make a movie. And yet, people who go and see movies, they don’t care if it has an easy time or not. They give you 2 hours of their precious time. The movie needs to be powerful and all these great things that we go to cinema for. So, it was a tough shoot.
AF: How many days did you all film principal photography?
Avi Nesher: I think 30.
AF: How long was the rough assembly cut before getting down to its current runtime?
Avi Nesher: It was pretty much the same. Because I rehearsed so much, I lose fat as I go along. During rehearsals, I cut out. My rough cuts tend to be maybe 10%, maybe 12% longer than the film itself. And then I do previews and I learn from people’s reactions. I really discover that a scene is totally superfluous because to spend precious time on shooting something that will end up on the editing room’s floor is really a crime.
The movie, I think maybe the rough cut was close to 2 hours, something like that.
AF: What do you hope people take away from the film?
Avi Nesher: Well, I make movies. I don’t tell people what to think. I hope my movies could just kind of evoke thinking or contribute to thinking. I hope people have experience. I mean, I hope they get a character and like them.
And as you said before, Israelis are people, not ordinary people. Like everyone else, that have different political points of view, they have different ways of lives, some are religious, some are not, some are married, some are not. I hope they get to like these people and I hope they see them as people that could be their friends.
I hope they take away the experience that as an experience that we as Israeli—that they see us for what we are, and they see this movie for a movie about people. I think the critic of the ‘Jerusalem Post’ put it—I used to be a critic, I love critics—she said something along the line, I’m (inaudible) that the movie will change the way you see things, it might even change the way you think about yourself. I think that’s very nicely put.
AF: Thank you so much, and Shanah Tovah.
Avi Nesher: Shanah Tovah to you too.