Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich’s documentaryThe Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue had its invitation withdrawn to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) because it did not meet “conditions that were requested” by the festival, TIFF organisers said today (August 13).
The film tells the story of retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon who went on a mission to rescue family members during the October 7 attacks.
In a statement, TIFF claimed the filmmakers did not secure “legal clearance of all footage”, which was among the conditions requested to mitigate “known risks around the screening of a film”.
The film was not part of the TIFF Docs announcement on August 6.
The full statement is below.
“The invitation for the Canadian documentary film The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue was withdrawn by TIFF because general requirements for inclusion in the Festival, and conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met,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 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.”
“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 filmmaking team 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.”
Last year, TIFF was forced to pull screenings of Russians At War after the organisers were made aware of “significant threats to festival operations and public safety”.
A screening of David Gordon Green’s TIFF opening night film Nutcrackers also saw protests against the festival’s bank partner Royal Bank of Canada and its ties to Israel.
Other festivals have also seen protests around the Gaza conflict, including Locarno earlier this month.
