‘Russians at war’ censored in Canada

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has made the “unprecedented” decision to effectively cancel the scheduled showings of the documentary feature ‘Russians at War’. The organizers cited security threats after pressure from Ukrainian activists.

Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova spent seven months with a Russian military unit and produced the first-person documentary with Canadian government funding. Its pre-screening on Tuesday was picketed by Ukrainian groups calling it “Russian propaganda.”

“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 organizers announced on Thursday evening. 

“This has been an incredibly difficult decision,” they added. “This is an unprecedented move for TIFF.”

The festival will “pause” the screenings scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday but intends to show the film “when it is safe to do so,” the organizers said. Friday’s screening was supposed to be the feature’s North American premiere.

The Toronto Police Service told the state broadcaster CBC that the decision was not based on their recommendations and was made independently by TIFF organizers.

Ukrainian groups organized a protest outside Tuesday’s screening, accusing the film of “humanizing the aggressor.” Kiev’s consul-general in Toronto, Oleg Nikolenko, was part of the “large crowd,” as the CBC described it. One protester broke into the theater during the screening and denounced the movie as “propaganda” before he was removed by security, while another handed out pro-Ukrainian pamphlets to audience members.

Nikolenko claimed that the film has damaged the TIFF’s reputation and given “Russia a chance to further undermine democracy,” vowing that Ukrainians will “continue to fight Russian propaganda in every corner of the world using all peaceful and legal means.”

On Thursday, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress called for the resignations of the TIFF’s board of directors, the suspension of government funding to the festival, and an investigation into “advocating genocide.”

The producers of ‘Russians at War’ called the TIFF’s decision to effectively cancel the film “heartbreaking” and an “affront… to our democratic values in a free media.” They also condemned Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as well as two Canadian senators and two MPs who joined Ukrainian officials in their efforts to get the film censored, for “irresponsible, dishonest, and inflammatory” rhetoric that “incited the violent hate” that led to the film’s censorship.

Freeland, whose grandfather was a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator, said on Wednesday that she had “grave concerns” about the film and that it should not have received state funding. The project received about 340,000 Canadian dollars ($250,000) from the Canada Media Fund via TVOntario, which has since disavowed the film.