Protesters participate in a demonstration against the screening of the documentary Russians at War at TIFF Lightbox on Sept. 17.EDUARDO LIMA/The Globe and Mail
A small group of protesters gathered outside the Toronto International Film Festival’s downtown theatre on Tuesday to protest the screening of Russians at War, a documentary that was pulled from the official TIFF lineup over allegations that it was pro-Moscow propaganda before being reinstated days later.
Draped in Ukrainian flags, protesters on Tuesday held posters and banners splashed with the words, “This is not art! This is a lie” and “TIFF is Putin’s favourite festival.”
The film’s inclusion in the TIFF lineup, along with the decision of Ontario’s TVO and British Columbia’s Knowledge Network to fund its production, prompted public condemnation from Ukraine’s consul-general in Toronto, Canadian-Ukrainian groups and politicians. Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova has rejected claims that her documentary about the experiences of Russian soldiers in the war against Ukraine is propaganda and TIFF initially defended the film, but the festival subsequently cancelled its Sept. 13 premiere, citing security concerns.
But over the weekend, TIFF issued a programming alert announcing Tuesday’s screening, to the surprise and dismay of those who had called for its cancellation.
A small group of demonstrators gathered outside the TIFF Lightbox on Sept. 17 to protest the screening of Russians at War. The documentary was removed from the official TIFF lineup over claims that it was pro-Russian propaganda before being reinstated days later.EDUARDO LIMA/The Globe and Mail
Dozens of protesters, some visibly emotional, chanted “Shame on TIFF” as they gathered outside the theatre during two screenings on Tuesday. Those chants of “shame” grew louder when a person believed to be Ms. Trofimova and others entered the theatre in a rush.
Among the crowd was Yana Nechyporuk, who is from Kharkiv, Ukraine. She said that earlier in the day, a Russian missile had landed metres away from her family’s apartment building in Ukraine.
“I’m sincerely just shocked how in such a developed country where people have values, where it’s not okay to come and kill a child, we are showing the movie which basically says it’s completely fine to do those things,” said Ms. Nechyporuk. “The people they are showing, they’re killing civilians and kids and destroying someone’s homes and lives and families.”
Opinion: Russians at War is an exceptional documentary and needs to be seen
Others in the crowd condemned what they viewed as an attempt to victimize Russian aggressors.
“I am not against showing different sides of the war,” said 22-year-old Anastasia Lazarchuk from Kyiv, who had been at Tuesday’s protest since early morning.
“But they’re saying, ‘okay this is ordinary guys, please treat them as ordinary people because they’re just like you, they don’t know what they doing.’ No! You chose to be in this position. You go kill Ukrainians for money – they are killing our families, my family.”
Ms. Trofimova previously said her goal was to show the disillusionment of Russian soldiers on the front lines of the Ukraine war and she said she did not have the permission of the Russian government. She said she unequivocally believes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is unjustified and illegal.
The filmmaker has also pushed back over criticisms that she had previously worked for RT, the Russian state broadcaster, noting that she worked for its documentary unit and not RT news. She left RT in 2020 and subsequently worked for the CBC.
TVO initially defended the documentary, which it described as an “anti-war” film, but then pulled its support. The Canada Media Fund, a public-private organization funded by the government and major telecommunications providers, offered up $340,000 in funding.
Olya Glotka, a Ukrainian-Canadian filmmaker and one of the few protesters who chose to see the film on Tuesday, called TIFF’s decision to screen it irresponsible.
”Right now, the opinions of the international community are extremely important, we depend on support from the West,” she said. If Western audiences and lawmakers fall for the victimization of Russian soldiers, it could cost Ukraine hundreds of thousands of lives, she said.
When 28-year-old Ivanna Feleschuk heard that Russians at War would be screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, she was upset – but what made her furious was learning that her tax dollars may have gone to fund the film.
“I’m here for four years, I’m paying a lot of tax with my husband,” she said. “It made me feel like either I’m crazy or did this world go crazy – in my opinion, you don’t give attention to war criminals and whitewash them.”
Jon Roozenbeek, a professor at King’s College London, whose research focus is Propaganda and Ideology in the Russian–Ukrainian War, said in an interview that it’s not necessarily up to Ms. Trofimova to determine whether her film is propaganda or not.
“She’s trying hard to say she didn’t do this with the goal of defending Russia’s role in Ukraine – well you don’t really have control over how a work of art is interpreted,” he said.