Canadian director Barry Avrich arrives at the TIFF Tribute Gala in 2019. Mr. Avrich and his filmmakers said they were 'shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming' when it pulled the screening of Mr. Avrich's Oct. 7 documentary.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
After the Toronto International Film Festival told director Barry Avrich this week that it would pull his latest documentary from the 2025 lineup, its organizers changed course Wednesday – and committed to working with his team to screen the film about a rescue during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue is about the quest of a retired Israel Defence Forces general to save his family during the assaults.
The Globe and Mail first reported Wednesday that TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey had e-mailed Mr. Avrich earlier this week, withdrawing the film because “the risk of major, disruptive protest actions around the film’s presence at the Festival, including internal opposition, has become too great.”
In TIFF’s initial statement to the trade publication Deadline on Tuesday, the festival said it had pulled its invitation because “general requirements for inclusion in the festival” were not met, including clearing the rights for all footage, which includes scenes from Hamas’s livestream of its attack. It also briefly mentioned the “potential threat of significant disruption.”
In a new statement late Wednesday, Mr. Bailey appeared to change tack: “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.”
Mr. Bailey also said that “claims that the film was rejected due to censorship are unequivocally false.” But his team did not respond to a request for comment about the contents of the letter he had sent Mr. Avrich Monday.
“Given the sensitive and significant nature of the film’s subject, I believe that it tells an important story and contributes to the rich tapestry of perspectives in our lineup – stories that resonate both here at home and around the world," Mr. Bailey’s late-Wednesday statement said.
Filmmakers of The Road Between Us said in an e-mail earlier Wednesday that they were “shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film.” Arguing that art “can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable,” they added: “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.”
The filmmakers said that TIFF had not yet reached out to them late Wednesday after the festival said it would commit to working with them.
Mr. Avrich is a former TIFF board member and a long-time supporter; he is listed on the festival’s website as having provided a “sustaining gift” in the creation of its flagship Lightbox theatre complex. He has previously premiered films at the festival, including Oscar Peterson: Black + White and David Foster: Off the Record.
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Major-General Noam Tibon’s story of rescuing his son’s family from Hamas’s attack on the kibbutz where they lived has been recounted in media across the world, including on 60 Minutes. Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted about 250 more in the 2023 attack.
In the nearly two years since Israel launched its subsequent war on Hamas, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Human-rights groups now warn that famine is spreading rapidly among Gaza’s 2.1 million residents.
This year marks TIFF’s 50th anniversary. The festival is scheduled to run from Sept. 4 to 14.
The festival last year delayed the premiere of the documentary Russians at War, which had been heavily criticized by members of the Ukrainian community. Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova’s film followed Russian soldiers from their homes to the front lines of occupied Ukraine. TIFF wound up screening the film at its Lightbox theatre in Toronto shortly after the festival’s end.
In 2022, TIFF pulled the world premiere of the drama Sparta from its lineup after an investigation in Der Spiegel reported allegations of misconduct toward child actors during its production in Europe. Director Ulrich Seidl wrote on his website that the German magazine’s “incorrect descriptions, rumors and events on the set of SPARTA” were “taken out of context” and “have been woven into a distorted picture that in no way corresponds to the facts.”