Filmmaker Igal Hecht by the security fence in Abu Dis, just outside Jerusalem.

Igal Hecht still remembers vividly one of the first films he made, Camels of Nahor, for his thesis at Seneca College.  “That was a tough movie to make,” the 28-year-old Toronto filmmaker says. “We shot in -30 C weather. I had frostbite. We used to eat off the hood of my car, to keep the food warm. It was nasty, but everyone [crew and actors] pulled together.”

Camels of Nahor, a fictional film, a sort of Romeo and Juliet about a secular Jewish man who falls in love with a rabbi’s daughter, was a tough film for another reason. He ended up getting sued by the rabbi of the synagogue they filmed in for misrepresenting the synagogue.

The suit got settled out of court – a resolution that Hecht is not happy with now. (Among other things, he can’t show the film anywhere anymore). “If I had known then what I know now, it would have turned out different,” he said. But at the time, the threat of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit was enough for him to back down and turn away from fictional films.

“I thought then that Camels of Nahor was going to be my big break, but then we got sued and it killed my aspirations to make fiction.”

But Hecht has certainly not turned away from controversial films. After forming Chutzpah Productions in 1999, he directed a number of documentaries, all of which received their share of criticism.

Y.I.D., which focuses on Diaspora Jews’ feelings about Israelis, was criticized by many local Jews; Chosen People, his followup about the messianic Jewish movement, annoyed some Jews for giving time to a group they don’t consider “Jewish”; Not in My Name annoyed the left-wingers who called him a fascist and Disengaging Democracy, which criticized the Israeli government’s handling of last year’s pullout, didn’t win him many friends, either.

Hecht shrugs off criticism of his films, most of which have been shown at Jewish film festivals around the world, including Warsaw where Not in My Name picked up an award.

“People said Chosen People would bring out the next Holocaust. ‘How much did they [the evangelicals] pay you to make it?’

“Others said Not in My Name reminds them of The Passion of the Christ. I’m happy with the criticism. At least I know they’re watching my films.

“I just give a platform to people who do exist,” he says, although the community would rather we didn’t hear about them.

“I try to be balanced, in as much as a documentary is always subjective, but we don’t have to be. I always tell my students [Hecht teaches film part time at Seneca College] to have a balanced point of view. There are two sides to every story.”

He says audiences want to see Michael Moore-style documentaries that tell people what to believe. “I am not going to do that. I document what I see and let you judge for yourself.”

Hecht was born in Ashkelon, Israel, and immigrated to Canada with his parents when he was 11. He was always interested in telling stories, and his parents bought him a video camera. “They thought it would be a nice hobby for me and it would keep me occupied.”

As a teenager, Hecht worked at Rogers Community Television and then went to Seneca College School of Communication Arts. In addition to teaching there now, he also works as a producer at bpm:tv, a Canadian dance and electronic music specialty channel.

All his films are self-funded. “With Chutzpah Productions I only make enough money to make the next movie. Really, the only profitable one was Qassam [a film about the missile launches into Sderot].”

Since Hecht films, writes, directs, edits and produces his documentaries, he saves a lot of money. “I don’t want to make it sound like it’s just me, me, me, though. I work with a great collection of individuals, some of the best filmmakers around. I have people in Israel who help me. We work together very well. They’ve been very good to me over the years.”

Hecht started Chutzpah Productions with Ron Furman (who has since left,) to make films based solely on Israel, Judaism and the Middle East.

“I find Judaism and Israel fascinating,” he said. “I am obsessed with it. I am very connected to Israel, I visit it at least once a year. I really love that place. There are many stories to tell.

“Chutzpah Productions picks topics that no one else likes to tell. Messianic Judaism, for instance, no one else did that.”

Although he does work on other, non-Jewish projects, “with Chutzpah Productions, I just want to stick to Jewish contemporary topics.”

And though he isn’t bothered by the criticism, Hecht is thinking about being less controversial in future projects.

“I want to shy away a bit from the ‘controversial’ label,” he said. “I am still going to make political films, but I want to explore Israeli culture as well. Not too many people realize that Israel has a more vibrant scene than Canada.”

One of his next projects is Israeli Nightlife. “It is so not Chutzpah Productions,” he says with a grin. “It’s about Israeli clubs, DJs, music and hot-looking people from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This is what Israel is about – it has such a vibrant scene, and not one you see often.”

He says many people don’t realize that Israel is such a normal country. “Here, in Canada, clubs are closing at 2 a.m. There they open at 2 a.m. There’s dancing on tables, people dress so nicely. People don’t have that image of Israel.”

He’s also making a film about Canadians making aliyah. “Not a controversial topic at all.”

Recently, he was at the March of the Living and was commissioned to do a documentary for the organizers. “I was privileged to do it for them. It’s a very powerful experience. My first and hopefully not last documentary on the Holocaust.”

But don’t fret. Hecht isn’t completely shying away from controversial topics. After Not in My Name, which focused on the Israeli left-wing groups, Hecht is also working on Promised Land, which focuses on right-wing Judaism. “The right is going to learn about themselves,” he says. “They’re going to see see what they’re saying about Israel.”

Hecht doesn’t like to pigeonhole himself into belonging to one group or the other, saying he considers himself moderate.

“Some days I’m on the left, other days I’m on the right. I just want Israel to be safe and secure.”

Over the years he has spent some time with Palestinians. “I don’t think the majority of them are terrorists, but at the same time there’s a lot of people filled with hatred.”

He remembers vividly a conversation he had with one Palestinian. “He said, ‘The Jewish blood will flow outside the city of Jerusalem.’”

But at the same time, he believes, it is always innocent people who are being killed. “The leaders don’t have to live with the consequences of their actions.”

Hecht says his strength is that he’s always willing to listen to different opinions. “I don’t have a narrow mind. It’s not just black or white. There is so much grey in the middle.”

Another upcoming project is Resolution 50, about the Canadian Union of Public Employees boycott of Israel. “I spoke with [Ontario CUPE leader] Sid Ryan who is unfairly portrayed as an anti-Semite. He isn’t,” Hecht says. “He just isn’t fully aware of the impact of what the resolution says.”

Hecht is also working on Chutzpah TV, a series of shorts that will be aired on his website. [www.chutzpaproductions.com] “I want to be The CJN of tomorrow,” he says with a laugh. “I want to do stories on our community – campus life, etc. I will explore issues and upload them into five- or 10-minute documentaries and put them online.”

He believes this will be educational for his viewers and for him. “We can learn a lot from our community. The best education I got was from doing my films. I’ve spoken to so many people over the past few years, well over 1,000, from politicians to terrorists to everyday Canadians.”

Chutzpah TV is still a work in progress, and meanwhile he’s excited about a deal he’s struck with CTS Television, which will be showing six of his films over the next two years on its Israel Today program. Hecht’s Disengaging Democracy, a stirring look at last year’s pullout from Gaza, is scheduled to open up the new season of Israel Today, the Sunday after Yom Kippur.

“I’m a workaholic,” he says. “I love doing this. I wouldn’t say it’s a hobby, but it is fun.”

A full version of Qassam plus selected scenes from his other features can be viewed on his website.