The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has pulled Barry Avrich’s documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue from its lineup, with the filmmaking team claiming the doc has been “censored.”

The Road Between Us (pictured) tells the story of a retired Israeli Defense Forces general’s mission to rescue his son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. It is written and directed by Avrich, who produced with Mark Selby under their shared Toronto-based banner Melbar Entertainment Group.

Although the film had never been formally confirmed in TIFF’s lineup, it had been anticipated to be announced as part of the TIFF Docs programme on Aug. 6.

According to a statement from TIFF, which was first reported in Deadline, the film was pulled because it did not meet the festival’s general inclusion requirements, including legal clearance of all footage.

However, the team behind the doc claims in a joint statement issued to Playback Daily that TIFF has “defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film.” They did not go so far as to refute the claim that it did not meet the inclusion requirement.

“Ultimately, film is an art form that stimulates debate from every perspective that can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable,” read the statement. “A film festival lays out the feast and the audience decides what they will or won’t see. We are not political filmmakers, nor are we activists; we are storytellers. We remain defiant, we will release the film, and we invite audiences, broadcasters, and streamers to make up their own mind, once they have seen it.”

According to the Deadline report, TIFF asked the filmmaking team to provide a letter confirming legal clearance of the footage, and had planned to increase security in case of potential risks. As per the report, there were concerns that the film would incite protests similar to those over the doc Russians at War in 2024, which objected to the film’s depiction of Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine.

The Road Between Us team claimed TIFF had asked them to change the title of the doc from its original title Out of Nowhere: The Ultimate Rescue and make editorial changes around its use of footage of the Oct. 7 attack, which was sourced from Hamas livestreams. A spokesperson for the filmmaking team verified Deadline‘s report to Playback.

TIFF did not respond to a request for comment at press time.

Image courtesy of Melbar Entertainment Group