EXCLUSIVE: The Toronto Film Festival said Thursday that it will invite to its 50th edition Barry Avrich‘s October 7th documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, two days after organizers rescinded their invitation for it to appear in the Documentary lineup of this year’s festival.
“We have worked together to find a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal and programming concerns. We are please to share that The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue will be an official TIFF selection at the festival this year, where we believe it will contribute to the vital conversations that film is meant to inspire,” read a joint statement from TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey and the filmmakers this evening.
The Road Between Us tells the story about retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon, who embarked on a mission to save his family, including his two granddaughters, who were surrounded by Hamas terrorists during the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Tibon also rescued survivors of the music festival massacre and helped wounded soldiers on his journey to save his family.
The festival, which planned to put the film in its Documentary lineup, said it withdrew its invitation “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,” which included footage shot through body cameras worn by Hamas attackers.
TIFF said the requests were sought 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.”
The filmmakers, who said they had complied with many of TIFF’s requests, said they were “shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film, adding that they “are not political filmmakers, nor are we activists; we are storytellers.”
The move drew strong reaction from groups including the Creative Community for Peace and the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, who called on TIFF to reverse the move that the filmmakers described as “censorship.”
On Wednesday, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey refuted that idea.
“I want to be clear: claims that the film was rejected due to censorship are unequivocally false,” he wrote in a letter addressed to members of the TIFF community. “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.”
Patrick Hipes contributed to this report.
