The Toronto Film Festival has confirmed that Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova will screen her controversial documentary russians at war Friday following its world premiere in Venice.
“The film will premiere in North America later this week as planned,” TIFF organizers said in a statement on Wednesday. A representative for Trofimova said the Toronto-based filmmaker expressed concern about his first appearance at TIFF on Friday. There will be no comment on the public screening.
TIFF’s decision comes in the face of political pressure from Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian background, and Ukrainian Consul General Oleh Nikolenko. “Ukrainian diplomats and the Ukrainian Canadian community have expressed very serious concerns about this film, and I would say I share those concerns,” Freeland told reporters on Tuesday.
Controversy surrounding the film first emerged at the Venice Film Festival, where it had its world premiere. After a press conference for the film in Lido, Trofimova defended the film, sparking a backlash because she was filming it in eastern Ukraine with a Russian army battalion.
Ukrainian Canadians protest russians at war Toronto Film Festival Documentary
Eitan Freising
About 400 Ukrainian Torontonians gathered outside TIFF Lightbox, the major film festival’s headquarters, on Tuesday to protest against press and industry screenings of ” Russians at war. But TIFF organizers, while acknowledging concerns about the Canadian documentary, defended its continued presence in the official festival lineup for artistic reasons.
“Our understanding is that it was produced without the knowledge or involvement of any Russian government agencies. We believe that the film should in no way be viewed as Russian propaganda,” festival organizers said.
russians at war The North American premiere will take place on Friday afternoon at the Scotiabank Theater as originally planned. TIFF organizers are expected to tighten security at movie screenings, with protesters still likely to disrupt screenings, whether outside theaters or in auditoriums.
Also on Wednesday, Documentary Canada, which represents filmmakers, said it was “deeply shocked” that provincial publicly funded broadcaster Television Ontario withdrew funding for the production. Russians at war.
“Protecting the ability of documentary creators to explore controversial subjects is critical to a healthy society. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board’s actions to censor content pose a serious threat to independent media in Canada,” the U.S. Department of Commerce said in a statement.
Earlier, Ontario TV stations issued their own statement regarding support for the Russians in the war. “We listened to the Ukrainian-Canadian community and their thoughtful and heartfelt input. The TVO Board of Directors has decided to respect the feedback we received and will no longer be supported or broadcast by TVOrussians at war. “
