After protests and outcry, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) ultimately decided to withdraw its inclusion of Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova's Russians at War documentary from the 2024 programming lineup, calling off the film's screenings a week ago. Yesterday (September 17), a post-festival screening of the controversial doc took place at TIFF Lightbox, where TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey told the audience that the fest's staff received threats of sexual violence from parties opposed to the film being shown, Screen Daily reports.
According to the CEO, his staff received hundreds of abusive calls and messages from members of the public accusing TIFF of including Russian propaganda in the festival's 49th edition — and that, while most communications to staff had been civil, some were "terrifying" and the team were "understandably frightened." He added that organizers had learned of plans to disrupt and possibly shut down the scheduled public screenings of the film, which had been set for last Friday (September 13) through Sunday (September 15).
Backed in part by public funds, Russians at War claims to "join Russian soldiers in Ukraine," with Trofimova having embedded herself with troops headed to the frontlines. Some members of Toronto's Ukrainian community have accused the film of humanizing and whitewashing their country's military aggressor.
TIFF initially stood by its plans to screen the film, then postponed the screenings due to "significant threats to festival operations and public safety" and eventually, as aforementioned, cancelled Russians at War's inclusion in the festival proper's programming. "As a cultural institution, we stand for the right of artists and cultural workers to express fair political comment freely and oppose censorship," the institution noted upon announcing the cancellation, reiterating their previous argument for screening the film.