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The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has withdrawn its invitation to screen a documentary about the October 7th massacre, claiming the filmmakers lacked legal clearance for footage the terrorists themselves filmed while committing the atrocities.
In addition, sources said the TIFF feared disruptive anti-Israel protests during the event, which runs September 4–14.
The film, The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, directed by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich, tells the story of IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon. On the morning of the massacre, he drove to rescue his son, the journalist Amir Tibon, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. They were trapped in their home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The film also shows how he aided survivors of the Nova music festival and helped wounded Israeli soldiers.
Hamas terrorists killed or kidnapped more than a quarter of Nahal Oz’s 400 residents on that dark and harrowing day.
Festival Cites Legal Concerns — and Bows to Pressure
TIFF says the filmmakers failed to meet “general requirements” for participation, including legal clearance for all footage. The Hamas terrorists wore cameras that captured the material in question. They filmed themselves murdering 1,200 people, abducting more than 250 hostages, massacring entire families, brutally raping women, and mutilating bodies.
📍Toronto, August 2025 🇨🇦
The Toronto International Film Festival banned The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a documentary on the Oct 7 hostage rescue.
It claimed the film lacked “copyright approval” from Hamas terrorists who filmed their own atrocities.
Outrageous. pic.twitter.com/Vc3sI6dcrF
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) August 13, 2025
TIFF claimed the requirements were meant to protect against lawsuits and “manage risks” linked to “highly sensitive subject matter.” However, Hebrew-language media outlets reported that fears of anti-Israel protests heavily influenced the decision, with festival organizers using their discretionary power to “disqualify” any film they decided was not in their “best interest” to include.
At TIFF’s request, the filmmakers had already changed the title from Out of Nowhere: The Ultimate Rescue. They also provided an errors and omissions (E&O) insurance letter naming TIFF as insured. Nonetheless, officials demanded more — additional documents, proof of indemnification, extra security measures, and confirmation of permissions for Hamas-recorded clips.
On August 6, TIFF’s lawyer told the filmmakers to submit final evidence of compliance. The festival scheduled a third screening for August 8 to verify changes. On August 11, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey urged them to withdraw the film. When they refused, TIFF removed it from the lineup the next day.
Avrich and his team condemned the move as censorship. “We are shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programing by refusing this film,” they said. “A film festival lays out the feast and the audience decides what they will or won’t see. We are storytellers… We remain defiant, we will release the film.”
Noam Tibon called the reasoning “absurd and bizarre.” He accused TIFF of “succumbing to pressure and threats” to erase the truth of October 7. “The atrocities committed by Hamas cannot be erased or denied,” he said.
The Canadian Centre for Jewish and Israeli Affairs (CIJA) also denounced the decision. “It is unconscionable that TIFF is allowing a small mob of extremists — who use intimidation and threats of violence — to dictate what films Canadians can see at the festival,” it stated. “This shameful decision sends an unmistakable message: Toronto’s Jewish community, which has long played an integral role at TIFF, is no longer safe or welcome. This should concern all Canadians and marks a stain on the festival’s reputation. TIFF must reverse this decision immediately.”
CIJA RESPONDS TO TIFF’S SHAMEFUL DECISION:
It is unconscionable that TIFF is allowing a small mob of extremists—who use intimidation and threats of violence—to dictate what films Canadians can see at the festival.
This shameful decision sends an unmistakable message: Toronto’s… https://t.co/VXxxVqX9cX
— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) August 13, 2025
The October 7 documentary will still reach audiences despite TIFF’s decision. Toronto’s Jewish community plans a public screening in early September.
The 60 Minutes program on CBS already featured Tibon’s rescue story. In addition, Fauda creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz are developing a separate dramatization.
The Larger Cost of TIFF’s Decision
Demanding a terrorist organization’s approval to use evidence of its own crimes is not only legally dubious but morally abhorrent. By hiding behind the language of “risk management” while bowing to anti-Israel agitators, TIFF empowers those who seek to censor truth and distort history. This stance does more than obstruct the public record — it hands Hamas a measure of legitimacy, granting the perpetrators of mass murder, kidnappings, rape, and mutilation any right to control how their crimes are shown to the world.
Such complicity erodes the foundations of justice and memory — and betrays the victims, who must never be forgotten or erased from history.
