You might think a major film festival would think twice before promoting a film of Russian propaganda, especially in a city with high numbers of Ukrainian-Canadians. Despite that, they went ahead and showed the film earlier in the week anyway. That has led to significant protests and condemnation from Ukrainian leaders and even the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland, herself of Ukrainian descent.
Oh, and about those “significant threats,” the Toronto Police Service says they never received any reports whatsoever of any threats.
Source: Screen Daily
In a disturbing and unprecedented development, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has paused three upcoming screenings of the documentary Russians At War after top brass were made aware of “significant threats to festival operations and public safety”.
The latest episode in the controversy to engulf Russian Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova’s TIFF Docs selection came one day after the festival pledged to continue with public screenings, despite protests by what were understood to be …