Actress Lia Elalouf as Eden in a scene from Tom Nesher’s feature film “Close Closer.” Photo: Provided.

Israeli director and writer Tom Nesher told The Algemeiner on Tuesday that her first feature film, which will make its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City this week, is “very personal” and served as a “lifeline” for her during a time in her life when she was coping with the loss of a loved one.

Come Closer is a coming-of-age drama about a young woman named Eden and how she struggles to grieve the death of her best friend, her brother Nati, after he is suddenly hit by a car and killed. When she discovers that Nati had a secret girlfriend, a girl named Maya who is much more reserved and modest, Eden tracks her down and together the two women forge a bond in pain and grief that turns passionate and dangerous. The Hebrew-language film, with English subtitles, explores the topics of love, loss, pain, and friendship.

Come Closer will make its world premiere on Thursday at the Village East Cinema, as part of the Viewpoints section of the Tribeca Film Festival, and will be screened a second time on Saturday.

“The tonality of the film is very inconsistent, in a fun way,” Nesher told The Algemeiner. “It starts super young and fun. Then it’s sad and scary, and then fun again, and sexy and funny. It goes through a rollercoaster, and that resembles my life and what I was going through because life doesn’t have one tone to it. Just having everything happening at once — you’re growing up, you’re becoming your own person while dealing with something that is extremely difficult.”

The storyline hits close to home for Nesher, whose 17-year-old brother Ari died in 2018 in a hit-and-run accident. Ari and a friend were riding an electric bike in Israel when they were run over by former Israeli Premier League soccer player Itzhak Asefa, who was then convicted and served two years in prison. Tom wrote the screenplay for Come Closer while grieving her brother’s death. She has directed four award-winning short films and created many freeform documentary pieces as a journalist, but Come Closer is her feature film directorial debut.

“This film was created for my brother,” Nesher explained to The Algemeiner. “I wanted to make a film that he would like. So not a family drama [or] sad film, but a coming-of-age, funny, sexy, full of life — just like an exciting film for him to watch also.”

“The process that I was going through [after Ari’s death] was very similar to the process that the characters were going through,” she added. “They were taking this deep dive into love instead of trying to move on, and that’s also what I was doing. This film became kind of like my lifeline. I was coping with the grief I was dealing with through making this film, which is very full of love and passion.”

Nesher also incorporated other aspects of her personal life into the film, such as the wardrobe and even the shoes worn by the character Nati. Scenes were filmed in Nesher’s grandmother’s home and characters wore Nesher’s own clothing or those of her real-life friends. One emotional scene at the end of the film even includes a song that was sung at Nesher’s brother’s funeral by the choir of the school they attended together. In the film, the song is performed by Israeli singer Odeya Azoulay.

“There’s a lot in this film that is very personal to me,” the director said. “It’s very intimate in many ways.”

Come Closer stars newcomers Lia Elalouf and Daria Rosen in the lead roles of Eden and Maya, respectively. The cast includes Netta Garti, Jacob Zada Daniel, Shlomi Shaban, Ido Tako, Ofek Pesach, and Yael Shoshana Cohen.

Eden and Maya also have resemblances to Nesher, the director explained.

“The actresses Lia and Daria always had this argument of who is more similar to me, Eden or Maya,” she joked. “They both have parts of me and parts of the actresses as well. They brought in a lot of their own personality and while I was casting, I was looking for the most interested people and not the most accurate actresses. Just people that will bring the more interesting colors into this story. And I have a lot from my real life inside their life, but also a lot of it is just a metaphor for the feelings I was having.”

The screening of Come Closer at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday will be the first time that Nesher will watch her feature film with a large audience. She said having her film included in the lineup for the film festival is extremely meaningful to her and a dream come true. “I lived in New York until I was five years old so I’m coming back home in a sense,” she said.

When asked what overall message she hopes to convey to audiences with Come Closer, Nesher explained: “It’s like they say, ‘if you love someone, set them free. But if they love you, then you’ll find them again by your side.’ That’s kind of the message of the film. You don’t have to move on but you don’t need to cling to the person who you’re saying goodbye to, because the love will always be present in your life. And if your love was grand as you feel, it will keep being a part of you and he will keep being a part of you.”

Nesher is the daughter of award-winning Israeli director Avi Nesher, who won a lifetime achievement award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sports in 2018.