The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has canceled a documentary about the October 7, 2023, terror attack, ostensibly because of concerns that Hamas might have copyright claims to footage it of its murders.
Hamas broadcast footage of its own atrocities while they took place, a unique form of psychological warfare designed to inflict trauma on Israelis and to encourage its supporters among Palestinians in Gaza and abroad.
There is no conceivable way that it could advance legal claims to copyright in a western court, especially as its footage has become part of the public record, but the issue provided TIFF a pretext to cancel an Israeli film.
Deadline reported Tuesday:
The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue tells the story about retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon, who embarked on a heroic mission to save his family, including his two granddaughters, who were surrounded by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, 2023. Tibon also rescued survivors of the music festival massacre and helped wounded Israeli soldiers on his journey to save his family. His story was originally covered by 60 Minutes in October 2023.
Sources tell us that TIFF pulled the movie due to potential risks of disruptive protests at this year’s festival, which runs September 4-14. TIFF faced a similar situation last year with the antiwar documentary Russians at War, which stirred Ukrainian diplomats and activists to urge the fest to cancel screenings, claiming it was Russian propaganda. Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was also riled up over the docu. TIFF halted screenings on Russians at War, then showed the docu days following the festival with heavy security at showtimes.
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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. The Road Between Us team were asked and provided an errors and omissions insurance letter that added TIFF as the insured. Filmmakers were also asked to provide a legal reporting letter confirming clearance of the footage, as well as added security. We’re told by the festival that the event was going to provide additional security given any potential risk from the film.
Toronto, and Canada, have become increasingly inhospitable to Israel and to Jews in particular, with large anti-Israel demonstrations a regular feature of life, thanks in part to rapidly growing Muslim immigration.
Update: The Times of Israel reported:
Following the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to cancel the screening of a documentary about the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre, the subject of the film calls the decision “absurd and delusional.”
“The Toronto Film Festival has succumbed to pressure and threats, and has chosen to silence and erase October 7,” says retired IDF Major General Noam Tibon. “My message to the festival management: The truth cannot be erased. The atrocities committed by Hamas cannot be erased or denied.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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