The Toronto International Film Festival has decided to halt screenings of the controversial documentary, “Russians at War,” following what TIFF described as “significant threats to festival operations and public safety” in a statement .
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“Effectively immediately, TIFF is forced to pause the upcoming screenings of ‘Russians at War’ on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as we have been made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety. While we stand firm on our statement shared yesterday, this decision has been made in order to ensure the safety of all festival guests, staff and volunteers,” the statement reads.
“This is an unprecedented move for TIFF.”
Directed by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, the film is a first-person account of Russian soldiers in Ukraine during the Russian war against the sovereign nation, made while she was embedded with Russian soldiers during the war in Eastern Ukraine.
Its logline describes it as a “first-person documentary [that] takes us beyond the headlines to join Russian soldiers in Ukraine placing themselves in a battle for reasons that become only more obscure with each grueling day.”
“As Russia’s unjust war on Ukraine rages on, it is critical to understand the long history of colonization that has led to this current moment. Russian Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova’s gripping first-person documentary takes us beyond the headlines to join Russian soldiers as they place themselves in a battle for reasons that become only more obscure with each grueling day, each confusing command, each gut-wrenching casualty.”
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In response, the documentary’s filmmakers wrote that this was “heartbreaking for us as filmmakers and Canadian citizens. Our priority as producers, through this production, has been the safety and security of our courageous director, Anastasia Trofimova, despite her steadfast acceptance of these risks to make her documentary. We had assumed those risks would originate within Russia, not Canada.”
Controversy around the film first emerged at the Venice Film Festival, where it premiered. Trofimova sparked backlash after the film’s press conference on the Lido when she defended the film.
On Tuesday, around 400 Ukrainian Torontonians gathered outside TIFF Lightbox, the headquarters of the film festival, holding signs that read “‘Russians at War’ Justifies and Victimizes Killers and Rapists” and “Hello TIFF?! Russian Propaganda Kills.”
“As a cultural institution, we support civil discourse about and through films, including differences of opinion, and we fully support peaceful assembly. However, we have received reports indicating potential activity in the coming days that pose significant risk; given the severity of these concerns, we cannot proceed as planned,” TIFF’s statement continues.
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision. When we select films, we’re guided by TIFF’s mission, our values, and our programming principles. We believe this film has earned a place in our Festival’s lineup, and we are committed to screening it when it is safe to do so.”
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