Festival swings - Russian war film is shown anyway

The controversial documentary "Russians at war" was stopped from Toronto's film festival (TIFF) after threats. Now it will be shown anyway, the festival announces.

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Festival swings - Russian war film is shown anyway
Photo: Paige Taylor White/AP/TT

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The film, which deals with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has stirred up strong emotions since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September. Critics believe it is pro-Russian and attempts to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Toronto Film Festival, which ended on Sunday, announced last week that the screening of the film was stopped due to "serious threats" - something that has never been done before.

However, TIFF now announces that the film will be shown twice at a cultural center in Toronto affiliated with the festival.

Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Yulia Kovaliv, condemns the decision to reinstate the screenings. She believes that the festival's "efforts to serve as a platform for Russian propaganda are impossible to understand".

Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova was embedded with a Russian battalion in eastern Ukraine. She rejects the criticism and tells the AFP news agency that "Russians at war" is an anti-war film that shows "ordinary guys fighting for Russia and being treated as cannon fodder".

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