Toronto International Film Festival reverses course, will ‘ensure' Oct. 7 doc is screened following swift backlash
3 TIFF has reversed its previous decision to cut the film from the festival.
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TIFF's turnaround comes only as the festival faced outrage over reports that 'The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue' wouldn't be screened, because the filmmakers used footage filmed by Hamas but didn't obtain the rights for the clips.
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Festival CEO Cameron Bailey defended the earlier decision to bump the documentary, insisting in a Wednesday statement that 'censorship' had nothing to do with its original stance.
3 'The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue' details the horrors of the October 7th attacks in Israel.
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'I want to be clear: Claims that the film was rejected due to censorship are unequivocally false. I remain committed to working with the filmmaker to meet TIFF's screening requirements to allow the film to be screened at this year's festival. I have asked our legal team to work with the filmmaker on considering all options available,' Bailey wrote on social media.
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After uproar, documentary on Hamas 2023 attack will screen at Toronto Film Festival
NEW YORK (AP) — The Toronto International Film Festival will screen a documentary on the 2023 Hamas attack, after all, following an uproar over the film's disinvitation from the upcoming 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. '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.
Associated Press
40 minutes ago
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NEW YORK (AP) — The Toronto International Film Festival will screen a documentary on the 2023 Hamas attack, after all, following an uproar over the film's disinvitation from the upcoming 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. '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.
New York Post
3 hours ago
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Craven and dishonest: Behind the Toronto bid to censor an Oct. 7 documentary
The folks in charge of the Toronto International Film Festival now claim they were never going to prevent the screening of a documentary that tells the truth about Hamas' horrific Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks — but the disclaimers are so hedged (and dishonest) that you still can't be sure the show will go on. First and foremost is the absurd excuse that TIFF's lawyers supposedly thought the filmmaker needed 'legal clearance' to use clips of the savagery as filmed and livestreamed by the terrorists on their GoPros. That is, permission from Hamas to use footage of the terrorists mauling women and slaughtering innocents. Nonsense: Several other movies have already used such footage; one of them, 'We Will Dance Again,' won an Emmy in June! Rather, this was obviously a wormy way to get out of showing Canadian director Barry Avrich's 'The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,' which shows how retired Israeli Gen. Noam Tibon rescued his family and other survivors of the Oct. 7 attacks. Because the truth might make viewers more sympathetic to Israel. Of course the TIFF folks carefully didn't complain about that, though they did say the risk of protests against the movie might also make it impossible to show. (We've also heard suggestions that festival staff were threatening to walk off the job if the documentary wasn't scrubbed.) Sorry: Admitting you'll censor in the face of such threats makes a mockery of TIFF's vow that 'we will defend artistic excellence and artistic freedom.' And falling back on spurious worries about terrorists' intellectual-property rights is still blatantly knuckling under to the hecklers' veto. Cameron Bailey, the TIFF CEO, denies 'censorship' was ever in play, claims he's 'committed' to showing the film and has his legal team 'considering all options available' to somehow show it after all. We understand not wanting to admit that Israel-haters are running the show at your festival, but Bailey's careful hedging shows that he's not even certain he can defy the antisemites' wishes.
