The Toronto International Film Festival has rescinded an invitation to screen an Israeli documentary about Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — in part over concerns that the filmmakers did not have Hamas’ right to use its footage from the deadly day.
The film festival, known as TIFF, also said it was seeking to avert a “potential threat of significant disruption” over the film. Some events focusing on Israeli perspectives on Oct. 7 have faced protests from pro-Palestinian demonstrators who oppose Israel’s military response in Gaza.
The documentary, titled “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” tells the story of retired IDF General Noam Tibon’s rescue mission of his son Amir Tibon and his family during Hamas’ attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where over a quarter of residents were killed or taken hostage. It was made by a Canadian filmmaker, Barry Avrich.
TIFF said it had withdrawn its invitation to screen “The Road Between Us” because the filmmakers had not satisfied “general requirements” including ensuring “legal clearance of all footage.”
TIFF allegedly requested that the filmmakers identify the Hamas-sourced footage in the documentary as well as provide added security due to any risks created by the screening, according to Deadline.
Hamas terrorists livestreamed and recorded some of their attacks on Oct. 7, and the footage has appeared widely, including in other documentaries about the day.
“TIFF’s claim that the issue is ‘clearance’ for Hamas-filmed footage is absurd,” Creative Community for Peace, a pro-Israel entertainment industry advocacy group, said in a statement. “Does anyone believe Hamas would authorize use of evidence of its own war crimes? This is a pretext to bow to threats, protecting those who make them rather than those targeted by them.”
The documentary’s subject, Noam Tibon, said TIFF’s decision to cancel the screening due to “permission to use” the Hamas footage was “absurd and bizarre, and constitutes further harm to the victims.”
“The Toronto Film Festival has succumbed to pressure and threats, and has chosen to silence and erase October 7,” Tibon told the Times of Israel. “My message to the festival management: The truth cannot be erased. The atrocities committed by Hamas cannot be erased or denied.”
The Canadian Centre for Jewish and Israeli Affairs called on TIFF to “reverse this decision immediately” in a post on X Tuesday, adding that the decision “marks a stain on the festival’s reputation.”
“It is unconscionable that TIFF is allowing a small mob of extremists—who use intimidation and threats of violence—to dictate what films Canadians can see at the festival,” the post read. “This shameful decision sends an unmistakable message: Toronto’s Jewish community, which has long played an integral role at TIFF, is no longer safe or welcome.”
The film is set to be shown in early September in Toronto at a public screening running parallel to the festival set up by the city’s Jewish community, according to Ynet.
The film’s creators said they would not be deterred by the setback.
“We are shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film,” the filmmaking team behind “The Road Between Us” told Deadline. “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.”
A dramatization of Tibon’s rescue of his son written by the creators of “Fauda” is also reportedly in the works.
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