Toronto’s film festival is already disgraced before it opens. TIFF tried to pull Barry Avrich’s documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, which shows retired Israeli General Noam Tibon’s desperate effort to evacuate his family as Hamas terrorists who came from Gaza ravaged southern Israel on October 7. In an atrocious move TIFF demanded clearance from Hamas themselves to use footage of the killings. That was not accountability, it was surrender. Donors and politicians erupted and only then did TIFF reverse course. The film is now buried in a single afternoon slot, September 10 at 2 p.m. at Roy Thomson Hall, a hidden screening rather than a centerpiece event.
Meanwhile the Gaza narrative gets full Hollywood prestige and prime time. The Voice of Hind Rajab, a drama backed by Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón and Jonathan Glazer, will premiere in Venice on September 3 and then be paraded at TIFF on September 7. A glamorous opening night with cameras flashing will celebrate Gaza. A film about a Jewish massacre gets an afternoon slot with no fanfare.
TIFF’s complicity runs deeper. It is sponsoring the Toronto Palestine Film Festival, an event founded to mark the Nakba, the Palestinian term for the creation of Israel in 1948. The festival declares its mission is to amplify Palestinian narratives of resistance and suffering. It is directly supported by the City of Toronto and the Canada Council for the Arts. That means taxpayer dollars are being used to fund an event that frames Israel’s founding as a catastrophe while TIFF lends its name and prestige to the cause.
Jewish Torontonians are furious. Their grief was nearly erased because TIFF demanded terrorist approval. Their story is hidden in a dead afternoon slot. Gaza stories are given Hollywood stars, red carpets and taxpayer backing. The contrast is obscene. TIFF is parading Gaza propaganda with government support while shoving the massacre of Jews into the shadows.
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