Film fest rocked by anti-Israel protests before Oct. 7 doc premiere

TORONTO — A documentary about the Hamas terror attacks against Israel that the Toronto International Film Festival originally blocked premiered Wednesday after the organizers relented in the face of widespread outrage.

The reason “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” was nixed seemed highly dubious — the fest claimed that, among other reasons, the filmmakers did not secure permission from Hamas to use livestreamed body-cam footage from the terrorist group’s attackers.

After widespread backlash — the video clips had been extensively used in news broadcasts already — TIFF reinstated the documentary to its lineup, giving it a single screening at Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto, one of the festival’s marquee venues.

Introducing the film, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey took the stage to scattered boos from the crowd.

The festival’s leader accepted sole responsibility for scrapping the movie from the 2025 schedule in front of a 2,000-strong audience.

“I want to apologize, especially to the Jewish community, for mistakes that I made in the lead up to this day,” Bailey said.

“Today’s screening is an important one, and I ask each one of you here to join in a collective act of simply watching a film together with openness and respect.”

An hour before the premiere, large, vocal protests broke out on opposite sides of Simcoe Street outside — both pro and anti-Israel.

The Palestine faction held a large banner reading, “Israel: The greatest shame of the Jewish people.”

Many on the opposite end, in support of Israel, waved specially made flags that were half Canadian and half Israeli.

The 50-year-old festival, a major stop on the road to the Oscars, is not accustomed to such large protests.

In response, the Barry Avrich-directed doc, which tells the story of retired Israel Defense Forces General Noam Tibon’s heroic efforts to rescue his family from a kibbutz near the Gaza border as Hamas barbarically laid siege to it, received far more security than the generally calm Canadian event is used to.

At least 20 police officers patrolled outside the theater before the screening began — an atypically hefty force for the major stop on the road to the Oscars. One shouting protester appeared to be arrested.

Entering the venue, every audience member was patted down — a practice that did not occur at films starring A-Listers such as Daniel Craig, Matthew McConaughey, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Sydney Sweeney.

There were several officers stationed at the foot of the stage.

“Angelina Jolie only got one!” an audience member said.

Patrons had to present the guards their headphones, wallets and any other small objects in their pockets.

Once inside, cops were stationed on every floor of the three-level theater.

The powerful film, which recounts Tibon’s efforts to save his son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters who were barricaded in a safe room in their Nahal Oz kibbutz home, went uninterrupted once the lights went down — except by audible tears.

The film is critical of the Israeli government, saying warnings of a Hamas attack went unheeded.

“They told us a butterfly couldn’t get through this fence,” Tibon’s son Amir’s wife Miri says in the doc. “And we believed it.”

Avrich, who is Canadian, insists his documentary about the terrorist attack that resulted in the death of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of 251 hostages is not a movie with an agenda.

“Please watch the film and then decide whether this film is political,” he said after the premiere. “This film is wrapped in the flag of a family.”

When Tibon took the stage after the end credits, the general received a long standing ovation.