Anthony D'Alessandro at Deadline.com reports The Toronto International Film Festival uninvited the documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue -- about how retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon bravely went on a mission to save his family who were surrounded by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
The official reason? The film's usage of Hamas body-cam film on Massacre Day.
The filmmakers failed to meet "conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met, including legal clearance of all footage,” a festival spokesperson said in a statement. “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."
"Pro-Palestine" mobs can discourage the showing of an anti-Hamas documentary.
The filmmaking team 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. Ultimately, film is an art form that stimulates debate from every perspective that can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable. 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.”
Filmmakers were told they had to make editorial changes specifically identifying horrific footage that was livestreamed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, footage that had already been seen publicly. The festival claims it requested that the filmmakers not make changes, rather identify the source of the footage and confirmation of legal clearance.
General Tibon was interviewed about his story in 2023 for CBS's 60 Minutes. He had his own statement: “The Toronto Film Festival has succumbed to pressure and threats, and has chosen to silence and erase October 7. My message to the festival management: The truth cannot be erased. The atrocities committed by Hamas cannot be erased or denied.”
