Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters gathered outside a Toronto International Film Festival venue on Wednesday where viewers were set to watch the world premiere of a documentary about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
As both groups waved flags, chanted and held up signs outside the Roy Thompson Hall, police barricades on Simcoe Street kept the groups separated.
The film — titled The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue and directed by Canadian Barry Avrich — tells the story of Noam Tibon, a retired Israeli general, as he tries to save his family during the attack nearly two years ago.
Protesters on opposite sides of the street yelled across the barricades at one another, sometimes hurling taunts or insults. While the protests remain relatively peaceful, one man was detained by police.
A pro-Palestinian protester with a microphone spoke about the deaths of civilians happening in Gaza, and called what’s happening there a genocide.
A large police presence could be seen outside the hall, both on horseback and on foot. More officers were positioned inside the theatre as well.
CBC journalists inside the venue said that everyone entering the hall went through a metal detector, had their bags searched and were patted down.
After initially being invited to the festival, the documentary was pulled in mid-August for what TIFF and filmmakers later called “important safety, legal and programming concerns.”
The day after it was pulled, TIFF and the filmmakers announced they had been able to work through the issues and re-added the film to the lineup of movies slated for TIFF.
Protests at TIFF aren’t new.
On Saturday, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on festival street in opposition to the Oct. 7 documentary. Protesters in that crowd had similar concerns about the deaths in Gaza and the “art-washing” of the conflict.
Last year, a documentary by a Russian filmmaker, which followed soldiers and medics on the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, made headlines. Screenings of that movie were also paused, before the documentary was quietly shown toward the end of the festival.
Ukrainian protesters, including Ukrainian Consul General Oleh Nikolenko, formed a large crowd outside of a screening at the time.
