After uproar, documentary on Hamas 2023 attack will screen at Toronto Film Festival
Earlier this week, TIFF withdrew its invitation to the film 'The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue.' The festival said the decision was based in part on legal clearance for footage used in the documentary. Deadline, which first reported the news, said a sticking point was the identification and legal clearance of Hamas militants' own livestreaming of the attack.
On Thursday evening, TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey and 'The Road Between Us' filmmaker Barry Avrich issued a joint statement announcing the film's selection.
'Both TIFF and the filmmakers have heard the pain and frustration expressed by the public and we want to address this together,' said Bailey and Avrich. 'We have worked together to find a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal, and programming concerns.'
'In this case, TIFF's communication around its requirements did not clearly articulate the concerns and roadblocks that arose and for that, we are sorry,' they continued.
The film chronicles the story of retired Israeli Gen. Noam Tibon, whose efforts to save his family and others during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack was profiled in a '60 Minutes' segment.
After being informed that the film wouldn't screen at the festival, the 'Road Between Us' filmmakers issued a statement claiming TIFF 'censored its own programming by refusing the film.'
Bailey disputed that allegation, and pleaded that the situation demanded sensitivity.
Weekly
A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene.
'The events of October 7, 2023, and the ongoing suffering in Gaza weigh heavily on us, underscoring the urgent need for compassion amid rising antisemitism and Islamophobia,' Bailey said on Wednesday.
The Toronto International Film Festival, North America's largest film festival, runs Sept. 4–14.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
3 minutes ago
- CBC
UN says Israel's plan to relocate Palestinians to southern Gaza will increase suffering
Gaza residents will be provided with tents and other shelter equipment Sunday ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south "to ensure their safety," the Israeli military said on Saturday. This comes days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday said that before launching the offensive, the civilian population will be evacuated to what he described as "safe zones" from Gaza City, which he called Hamas' last stronghold. The shelter equipment will be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza by the United Nations and other international relief organizations after being inspected by defence ministry personnel, the military said. A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern over Israel's plans to relocate people to southern Gaza saying it would only increase suffering. But the UN body welcomed Israel's recognition that shelter is a desperate need and that tents and other shelter equipment will be allowed again into Gaza. "The UN and its partners will seize the opportunity this opens," the spokesperson said. The UN warned on Thursday that thousands of families already enduring appalling humanitarian conditions could be pushed over the edge if the Gaza City plan moves ahead. Palestinian and United Nations officials have said no place in the enclave is safe, including areas in southern Gaza where Israel has been ordering residents to move to. The military declined to comment when asked whether the shelter equipment was intended for Gaza City's population estimated at around one million people presently, and whether the site to which they will be relocated in southern Gaza would be the area of Rafah, which borders Egypt. WATCH | Israel's plan to capture Gaza City condemned by world leaders: Israel's plan to capture Gaza City condemned by world leaders 8 days ago The Israeli government's plan to take control of Gaza City has triggered condemnation from leaders around the world, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said the action will put the 'hostages at greater risk.' Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the plans for the new offensive were still being formulated. The Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, said that the military's announcement "as part of its brutal attack to occupy Gaza City, is a blatant and brazen mockery of international conventions." However, Israeli forces have already increased operations on the outskirts of Gaza City over the past week. Residents in the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Shejaia have reported heavy Israeli aerial and tank fire. WATCH | Death of Al Jazeera journalists in Israeli airstrike widely condemned: Death of Al Jazeera journalists in Israeli airstrike widely condemned 5 days ago International condemnation followed a deadly Israeli airstrike in Gaza that killed six journalists, including a prominent Al Jazeera reporter, whom Israel's military claims was a Hamas operative. Residents there have also reported explosions throughout the day, resulting from Israeli tank shelling against homes in the eastern parts of the neighbourhood. The Israeli military on Friday said that it had begun a new operation in Zeitoun to locate explosives, destroy tunnels and kill militants in the area. Ceasefire negotiations stalled The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities, and 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are still alive. Israel's subsequent military assault against Hamas has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced most of Gaza's population and left much of the enclave in ruins. Protests calling for a hostage release and an end to the war were expected throughout Israel on Sunday, with many businesses, municipalities and universities saying they will support employees striking for the day.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Blocked from Bolivia's election, ex-leader Morales not sure how to respond to threats of arrest
LAUCA Ñ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's charismatic, long-serving ex-President Evo Morales told The Associated Press on Saturday that he didn't know what to do about threats by the right-wing presidential candidates to arrest him if they came to power. From his stronghold in Bolivia's tropics of Chapare, where he has been holed up for months under the protection of die-hard supporters, he repeated his call for voters to deface their ballots in Sunday's high-stakes elections in defiance of the race from which he is barred due to a contentious constitutional court ruling. 'What are we going to do? Not even I know,' he said in response to questions about how he would respond if either of the right-wing front-runners, multimillionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina and former president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, wins the presidential election and fulfills their threats to arrest him. 'I am in the crosshairs of of the right-wing empire.' Morales, 65, was charged last year with human trafficking and accused of impregnating a 15-year-old girl when he was president. While he has not outright denied having sexual relations with the underage girl, he has described the charges as politically motivated. A judge issued the arrest order as he and his former finance minister, President Luis Arce, bickered over the control of their long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism Party. As a result of their bitter power struggle, the party splintered. With the Bolivian economy undergoing its worst crisis in around four decades, the implosion of the MAS party has given the right-wing opposition its best shot at winning at the ballot box since Morales first came to power in 2006. 'Look, it's an election without legality, without legitimacy …. without the Indigenous movement, without the popular movement,' Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, contended in his interview with the AP at his political organization's headquarters, where he broadcasts a weekly radio show. The null-and-void vote, he said, 'isn't just a vote for our political movement.' 'It's a protest vote, a vote of anger.' He insulted Doria Medina and Quiroga, who have both run for president three times before, losing at least twice to Morales, as 'eternal losers.' Citing widespread voter disillusionment with the options, he expressed confidence that the election outcome would reveal an unusually high proportion of invalid votes. 'No one is going to win. It will be the spoiled vote, which is Evo's vote,' he said, speaking in third person.
Toronto Star
3 hours ago
- Toronto Star
In letter to Putin, US first lady asks him to consider the children in push to end war in Ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump took the unique step of crafting a letter that calls for peace in Ukraine, having her husband President Donald Trump hand-deliver it to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Friday meeting in Alaska. The letter did not specifically name Ukraine, which Putin's forces invaded in 2022, but beseeched him to think of children and 'an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology.' Nor did the American first lady discuss the fighting other than to say to Putin that he could 'singlehandedly restore' the 'melodic laughter' of children who have been caught in the conflict.
