The Toronto International Film Festival has pulled from its lineup a documentary about the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in part due to concerns that the producers lacked proper permission from the terrorist organization to use its own footage of the attack.

The film, “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” chronicles the extraordinary rescue mission of a retired Israeli general, Noam Tibon, during Hamas’s deadly assault. The 61-year-old grandfather drove into an active combat zone, armed with only a pistol, and ultimately saved his family from gunmen who had swarmed Kibbutz Nahal Oz. During his harrowing journey he also rescued survivors from the Nova music festival massacre and wounded Israeli soldiers.

Festival organizers withdrew their screening invitation for the film because its makers failed to meet “general requirements for inclusion,” including ensuring “legal clearance of all footage,” they informed Deadline on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the production said that the clearance issues specifically concerned video taken by the terrorists during their attack and later confiscated by Israeli authorities.

The festival demanded that filmmakers obtain permission directly from Hamas — the very perpetrators of the massacre — for using their footage. The producers were also asked to specifically identify the source of the clips and accept full liability for potential copyright violations arising from the film’s screening.

On August 6 the festival organizers asked the filmmakers to produce the requested documentation and to re-screen the film to ensure that required changes were made. On Monday, the head of the festival asked the filmmakers to withdraw the documentary altogether, Deadline reported. 

“We are shocked and saddened that a venerable film festival has defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film,” the filmmaking team stated on Tuesday. They added: “We are not political filmmakers, nor are we activists; we are storytellers. We remain defiant, we will release the film, and we invite audiences, broadcasters, and streamers to make up their own mind, once they have seen it.”

The cancellation sparked condemnation from filmmakers, politicians, and activists worldwide.

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, likened the festival’s clearance request to asking “Hitler or Goebbels for copyright on Auschwitz footage,” and urged the organizers to reverse their “vicious and sickening decision.” 

A Canadian parliamentarian, Melissa Lantsman, reckoned that “rescuing family members from terror is too controversial” for the film festival, which she noted “receives millions in funding from the federal government.” A former Canadian ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, echoed the sentiment, arguing that “this is not just an issue that concerns the Jewish community. Or Israel. This should concern all Canadians.” 

An American filmmaker, Eli Steele, derided the decision as “a gutless capitulation to mob rule” and argued that copyright law “explicitly protects filmmakers’ rights to incorporate footage like this in their work — especially when it’s transformative, critical, or serves a public interest.” Yet, he wrote, “here we are, watching a prestigious festival like TIFF fold like a cheap suit to a handful of loudmouths who’d rather torch artistic freedom than engage with ideas they don’t like.” 

“TIFF’s choice to pull the film isn’t a neutral act — it’s siding with the censors, the bullies, the self-appointed gatekeepers who think they get to dictate what stories can be told,” Mr. Steele wrote. “By caving, TIFF betrays every artist who dares to speak truth to power, sending a chilling message: conform or be denied.”