Toronto film festival cancels screening of Oct. 7 documentary
Sources told "Deadline" that TIFF pulled the film due to risks of anti-Israel protests at the event, which is scheduled to run Sept. 4-14.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has removed “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” a documentary about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, from its lineup, Deadline reported Tuesday.
The movie, directed by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich, focuses on Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon, who saved his family, including his two granddaughters, from the Hamas massacre.
Tibon also heroically extracted survivors of the Nova Music Festival attack and rescued wounded soldiers during his mission to save his family.
Sources told Deadline, an online Hollywood news site, that TIFF pulled the film due to potential risks of anti-Israel protests at the event, which is scheduled to run Sept. 4-14.
The filmmakers behind “The Road Between Us” told Deadline: “We are shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film.
“Film is an art form that stimulates debate from every perspective that can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable,” they said. “A film festival lays out the feast and the audience decides what they will or won’t see. We are not political filmmakers, nor are we activists.”
“We are storytellers. 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,” the filmmakers’ statement vowed.
A TIFF spokesperson told Deadline that the film was removed because “general requirements for inclusion in the festival, and conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met, including legal clearance of all footage.”
The filmmakers were reportedly asked to confirm that all footage used in the documentary was legally cleared, including from Hamas body cams, as well as provide additional security during the screening.
According to the spokesperson, the purpose of the conditions was to protect the festival and to allow it 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.
“As per our terms and conditions for participation in the festival, TIFF may disqualify from participation in the Festival any Film that TIFF determines in its sole and absolute discretion would not be in TIFF’s best interest to include in the Festival,” the statement emphasized.
On Oct. 7, 2023, some 6,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza, murdering 1,200 people, wounding thousands and abducting another 251. In response, Jerusalem launched an ongoing military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas and retrieving captives. PJC
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