Canadian director Barry Avrich arrives at the TIFF Tribute Gala in 2019. Avrich and his filmmakers said they were “shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming” by pulling the screening on Avrich’s Oct. 7 documentary.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The Toronto International Film Festival has pulled a Canadian documentary about a retired Israel Defense Forces general’s quest to save his family during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack over concerns about protests and staff opposition.
In a statement to the trade publication Deadline Wednesday, TIFF said that it had chosen to withdraw its invitation to screen The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue because “general requirements for inclusion in the festival” were not met, including clearing the rights for all footage, which includes scenes from Hamas’s livestream of its attack.
But in an e-mail from festival chief executive Cameron Bailey explaining the invitation’s withdrawal to director-producer Barry Avrich, shared by the filmmakers, the TIFF head did not address any licensing issues. Instead, he said that “the risk of major, disruptive protest actions around the film’s presence at the Festival, including internal opposition, has become too great.”
Opinion: Inside Israel, the movement to stop Netanyahu’s Gaza war is gaining momentum
A TIFF spokesperson did not immediately comment when asked about Bailey’s e-mail. In its statement to Deadline, the festival did describe some concerns about protests: “The purpose of the requested conditions was to protect TIFF from legal implications and to allow TIFF to manage and mitigate anticipated and known risks around the screening of a film about highly sensitive subject matter, including potential threat of significant disruption.”
In an e-mailed statement, the filmmakers said they were “shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film.” Arguing that art “can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable,” they added: “We remain defiant, we will release the film, and we invite audiences, broadcasters, and streamers to make up their own mind, once they have seen it.”
Major-General Noam Tibon’s story of rescuing his son’s family from Hamas’s attack on the kibbutz where they lived has been recounted in media across the world, including on 60 Minutes. Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted about 250 more in the 2023 attack.
Netanyahu seeking release of all hostages as part of comprehensive Gaza ceasefire deal, officials say
In the nearly two years since Israel launched its subsequent war on Hamas, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Human-rights groups now warn that famine is spreading rapidly among Gaza’s 2.1 million residents.
This year mark’s TIFF’s 50th anniversary. The festival is scheduled to run from Sept. 4 to Sept. 14.
