The morning Joshua Blumenfeld accepted his award at TIFF’s closing ceremony, he’d been awake for 27 hours straight. Between fielding calls from Tel Aviv and checking on his mother in Montreal, the 41-year-old filmmaker had barely processed what was happening.
“I honestly thought they’d made a mistake,” he tells me over coffee at a small bakery in Toronto’s Kensington Market, three days after his documentary “The Road Between Us” won the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I was working on this film for nearly seven years. Most of that time, nobody cared.”
But people care now. The documentary, which chronicles the unlikely friendship between Moshe Samuels, an Israeli music producer from Jerusalem, and Habib Shehadeh, a Palestinian oud player from Ramallah, has struck a nerve at a time when dialogue across political and cultural divides seems increasingly rare.
“I wasn’t trying to make a political statement,” Blumenfeld insists, though he acknowledges the impossibility of separating art from politics in this context. “I just wanted to show what happens when people actually listen to each other.”
The film began in 2016, when Blumenfeld, whose mother immigrated to Canada from Israel in the 1970s, was visiting family in Jerusalem and heard about an unusual musical collaboration happening in a small recording studio near the Old City. What was meant to be a short visit turned into a years-long project.
The documentary follows Samuels and Shehadeh as they navigate checkpoints, family disapproval, and their own preconceptions to create an album that blends traditional Arabic maqam with contemporary Israeli sounds. Their journey becomes increasingly complicated as tensions in the region escalate, testing their friendship and artistic partnership.
What makes “The Road Between Us” particularly compelling is how it refuses easy narratives. There are moments of connection alongside painful disagreements, celebrations followed by heartbreak. During one powerful scene, Samuels and Shehadeh argue bitterly about historical events, nearly ending their collaboration – only to reconcile days later through a wordless jam session that brings them both to tears.
“Music became their shared language when words failed,” Blumenfeld explains. “That’s something I think Canadians can relate to – finding connection despite our differences.”
The film has been praised by critics for its intimate approach and stunning cinematography, which captures both sweeping desert landscapes and tight close-ups of hands on instruments. The Toronto Star called it “a master class in empathetic storytelling,” while The Globe and Mail praised its “unflinching honesty about the complexities of cross-cultural friendship.”
Blumenfeld’s Canadian perspective gives the film a unique quality. “I’m connected to this story through my family history, but I also have the distance that comes from growing up in Montreal,” he says. “I think that allowed me to listen differently.”
Canada has its own history of working through cultural divisions, and the film has resonated with Canadian audiences for this reason. After screenings, Blumenfeld says audience members often approach him to share stories about friendships that cross Indigenous and settler divides, or connections formed between different religious communities.
According to Dr. Elaine Stavro, professor of political studies at Trent University who specializes in conflict resolution, films like this serve an important purpose. “Art can create spaces for understanding that political discourse often cannot,” she explains. “We see ourselves in these human stories in ways that transcend political positions.”
The TIFF jury cited this human element in their award statement, noting that the film “reminds us that behind every headline are people with dreams, flaws, and the capacity for unexpected connection.”
For the subjects of the film, the attention has been both welcome and challenging. Samuels has embraced the festival circuit, even performing at TIFF’s closing night party. Shehadeh has been more cautious, participating in virtual Q&As but declining to travel to North America for screenings.
“Their relationship continues to evolve,” Blumenfeld says. “Just like the issues the film addresses.”
Production wasn’t without challenges. Funding came in fits and starts, with initial support from the National Film Board of Canada and later assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts. Several times, Blumenfeld nearly abandoned the project. At one point, border closures meant he couldn’t film for over eight months.
“There were so many times I thought ‘this is impossible,'” he admits. “But then something would happen – a perfect scene would unfold, or Moshe and Habib would make a breakthrough – and I’d remember why we were doing this.”
The film arrives at a moment when arts funding in Canada faces uncertainty, particularly for projects that tackle complex international subjects. Organizations like the Documentary Organization of Canada have highlighted how films addressing global issues through a Canadian lens often struggle to find support.
“Stories like this matter because they remind us of our humanity,” says Blumenfeld. “That’s something we need right now, everywhere in the world.”
As our conversation ends, Blumenfeld shows me a text message from Samuels and Shehadeh, congratulating him again on the award. “They’re talking about a concert tour now,” he says, smiling. “The film might be finished, but their story continues.”
“The Road Between Us” begins its theatrical run in Toronto and Montreal next month before expanding to other Canadian cities. An international release is expected in early 2024.
