TIFF’s most controversial film had its first—and only—screening on Wednesday

Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich’s documentary The Road Between Us chronicles the race by retired Israeli Defense Forces major-general Noam Tibon and his wife, Gali, to rescue their son from the October 7 Hamas attacks.

All three were present at Wednesday’s TIFF screening at Roy Thomson Hall, the entrance to which was flanked by both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters, separated by barricades. Around 100 police officers were outside, on foot and on horseback, with several more indoors, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Police also monitored the protest by drone. Moviegoers had to pass through a metal detector, endure a pat-down and have their bags searched before they could find their seats.

While one unidentified protester was arrested for assault, the screening itself proceeded without disruption—until the after-show Q&A, moderated by journalist Lisa LaFlamme. She was loudly booed by the crowd when she asked Gali a question about Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza and the ongoing humanitarian crisis—including widespread famine and the collapse of the region’s health care system—that has resulted from the Israeli government’s attacks and blockades on the region.

“Israel’s response has an aspect of revenge because of the humiliation of that day,” said LaFlamme. “On October 7, there was certainly an absence of force, and now there’s an overwhelming use of force, as we know, with over 64,000 estimated Palestinian deaths.”

A video taken of the exchange shows jeers erupting from the crowd, causing LaFlamme to pause. Audience members were heard calling out, “Hamas numbers.” Most figures for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza are sourced from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, the governing body in Gaza. Israel has accused Hamas of inflating these numbers; however, a peer-reviewed analysis published in the Lancet earlier this year concluded that the ministry may in fact be under-reporting deaths by as much as 41 per cent.

On September 1, the International Association of Genocide Scholars declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. The International Criminal Court is considering a case alleging the same but is not expected to reach a decision until 2028.

After Avrich quieted the crowd, Gali responded. “The war on Gaza should have stopped a long time ago and could have stopped a long time ago,” she said to scattered applause. “It would do good to everybody in the region but especially to Israel.”

In the film, both Gali and Noam Tibon reference how Israel has lost sight of its original purpose. When asked about these statements in an interview with the Globe and Mail, Noam declined to elaborate, saying he would prefer to focus on the story of his family. Avrich has taken a similar approach, repeatedly denying any political motivations to the film and limiting its meaning to the story of one family struggling to survive an atrocity.

TIFF’s handling of the film caused controversy long before Wednesday’s screening. It originally didn’t make the cut for the festival and was entered in the lineup only after TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey agreed to give it a second chance. On August 11, Bailey unexpectedly called the filmmakers and asked them to withdraw the film, which they refused to do. The next day, TIFF officially uninvited the film in an email to its producers.

As Deadline first reported on August 12, TIFF told the filmmakers they had failed to meet the conditions for inclusion in the festival. These included “legal clearance of all footage,” insurance for TIFF against legal challenges and provisions for security at the screening.

At issue were several highly graphic videos live-streamed by Hamas showing their fighters killing and wounding civilians during the attacks. TIFF’s approach quickly backfired as commentators accused the festival of requiring legal permissions from Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government, to show the film.

In fact, as Avrich later clarified in his interview with the Globe, there was no such requirement: the film’s producers needed only to indicate the source of the footage, which they did by superimposing titles onto those scenes noting their origins. He also noted that TIFF had asked him to change the film’s original name, Out of Nowhere, to avoid what the festival called “confusion” around the long history of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

TIFF’s August 11 email to the film’s producers also cited “the risk of major, disruptive protest actions around the film’s presence at the Festival, including internal opposition.” Yet news of the film’s ouster promptly generated its own firestorm, with both Jewish advocacy groups and Canadian politicians from all levels of government condemning the move.

On August 14, several dozen protesters with Canadian and Israeli flags gathered in front of the Lightbox to call for the film’s reinstatement. The festival has also seen a number of pro-Palestine demonstrations opposing the film’s screening.

In the end, TIFF and Avrich came to an agreement, reinstating the film in the festival for a single screening and no media previews—a condensed schedule that Bailey attributed to the film’s late entry to the festival rather than, well, the whole saga.

While The Road Between Us is by far the most controversial film about Israel and Palestine at this year’s TIFF, it’s not the only one. Palestine 36, starring Jeremy Irons, dramatizes the history of the British Mandate of Palestine during the 1936 Arab revolt. And With Hasan in Gaza revisits one filmmaker’s 2001 visit to Gaza in search of an old cellmate.

The whole controversy has been a PR disaster for TIFF, but perhaps an unavoidable one. There is no issue more fraught today than Israel and Palestine; no other film has such passionate voices arguing for and against its inclusion. And the story is far from over: The Road Between Us will begin screening in theatres across North America in early October.