Avi Nesher’s latest film, Our Loves, is headed to the Toronto International Film Festival, where it will screen in TIFF’s Centerpiece section, even as the industry keeps talking about an unofficial but real international boycott of Israeli cinema. The film deals with characters caught in the October 7 massacre, and its selection gives another prestige platform to a state-backed story about a day that has become a political weapon as much as a historical event.
Prestige, Access, and the State Story
TIFF is the largest film festival in North America and one of the most prestigious in the world, and it is widely treated as an important launching pad for movies. Industry insiders praised the festival for choosing to spotlight an Israeli film in what they called a divisive time. That praise sits neatly beside the machinery behind the film’s rollout: international entertainment companies FOX Entertainment Studios and Access Entertainment have signed on as co-producers, joining United King Films and SIPUR, an Israel-based international entertainment studio, along with Artomas Communications and Zoa Films.
The film’s backers are presenting this as a breakthrough. The addition of those international partners, the article says, is a significant step in breaking through the boycott, especially for films that tell an explicitly Israeli story in Hebrew. The timing mattered too. The announcement came shortly after this year’s Ophir Awards nominations were announced, and Our Loves received 12 nominations, including best picture, director, screenplay, cinematography, editing, and original music. Awards season, festival prestige, and corporate financing all move together here. The culture industry knows how to launder a national narrative into global respectability.
Who Gets the Platform
Our Loves is Nesher’s 21st film. He’s one of the most popular and prominent filmmakers in Israeli cinema, with earlier films including The Troupe in 1978, Turn Left at the End of the World in 2004, and The Matchmaker in 2010. He also made Image of Victory in 2021, a movie about Jews and Egyptians during the War of Independence. His latest film follows seven characters whose lives become intertwined. Each is trapped in a dysfunctional relationship, and all of them believe October 6, the day their relationships ended, was the worst day of their lives. The next day, October 7 forces them into desperate efforts to survive, and hidden truths about their pasts and futures emerge.
The cast is stacked with leading Israeli actors: Shalom Michaelshwilli, Magi Azarzar, Yaniv Biton, Noa Cohen, Hadas Yaron, Evelin Hagoel, Lena Fraifeld, Chancela Mongoza, Kim Or Azulay, Lev Leib Levin, Naomi Aharoni-Gal, also known as Nunu, Lior Miller, Elad Turgeman, Amir Banai, Nevo Katan, and Itamar Pinto, alongside newcomer Daniel Gimpel. The film’s human drama is the selling point. The institutional frame is the real story.
SIPUR CEO Emilio Schenker said, “Our Loves is perhaps the most significant opportunity Israel has been given to present the human story of October 7 to the world.” He added, “The film’s extraordinary power has succeeded in breaking through the walls of the infuriating boycott directed against Israeli cinema. Now, the story that belongs to all of us, from the most painful and difficult day in the country’s history, will be presented on one of the world’s most important and respected cinematic stages.”
The Boycott, the Market, the Message
Liron Edery, United King Films’ head of marketing and distribution, said, “We are pleased to see that the boycott of Israeli cinema is gradually crumbling and that Israeli films continue to receive a platform at the world’s most important festivals because of their quality and power.” She called the selection of Our Loves for the Toronto Film Festival “a significant statement.” Edery said the film tells “the Israeli story and what we experienced on that terrible day,” but also said it is about “the possibility of repair, healing, and change, and about the strength to grow even out of the greatest fracture.” She added, “We are convinced that the film will also touch international audiences. Ultimately, good cinema succeeds in crossing borders, languages, and prejudices, and we believe that this is exactly what Our Loves will do.”
That’s the language of cultural diplomacy with better lighting. The film is being sold not just as art, but as a vehicle for national messaging, international access, and awards-season legitimacy. At a panel during the Jerusalem Film Festival last month, Our Loves was presented as a case study in overcoming the international boycott of Israeli film. Access Entertainment president Danny Cohen, a former director of BBC Television, spoke about the film’s awards prospects and said, “I genuinely believe it has Academy Award potential. I’ve worked on a number of Oscar campaigns. I think Avi’s work deserves that platform. And I hope the Israeli Academy selects this film as Israel’s submission for Best International Feature.”
The producers include Schenker and Gideon Tadmor for SIPUR; Moshe Edery and Leon Edery for United King Films; and Cohen for Access Entertainment. The executive producers include Fernando Szew for FOX Entertainment Studios; Jim Berk and Sheldon Rabinowitz for Moriah Media; and Shari Redstone for SIPUR. Major entertainment capital doesn’t just distribute films. It decides which national stories get polished, exported, and rewarded.