Toronto Film Fest Drops Oct. 7 Documentary Fearing Hamas Copyright To Its Snuff Videos
Were the film festival organizers really worried that Hamas would sue them?
The entertainment industry never rarely fails to disappoint, even outside of Hollywood.
However, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) hit a shocking new low for cinema. TIFF officials have removed a documentary about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel from its 2025 lineup. The film, titled “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” follows the story of retired Israeli General Noam Tibon, who helped rescue his family and others during the attack.
The excuse being used stems from the documentary’s use of footage filmed by the terrorists themselves as they carried out their heinous atrocities. Festival organizers are apparently worried about Hamas’ copyright claims.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) announced this week that it had canceled its invitation to screen a documentary about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, due to ostensible copyright concerns stemming from the fact that the filmmakers did not receive permission from the Hamas terrorists whose clips are featured in the film.
The festival was set to show “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” which tells the story of Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon, who set out to save his son, journalist Amir Tibon, and his son’s family as they were attacked by Hamas-led terrorists at their home on Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The film was created by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich.
The movie features footage taken from the cameras of terrorists, who filmed their atrocities as they marauded through Israeli communities. Over a quarter of Nahal Oz’s 400 residents were killed or taken hostage that day.
News of the movie’s disinvitation was first published in Deadline, which said TIFF pulled the screening due to fear of anti-Israel protesters disrupting the festival, as well as the copyright issue.
🚨 ROCK BOTTOM IS MUCH DEEPER THAN WE THOUGHT.
Never in my life could I have imagined this level of grotesque.You thought you could use the October 7th massacre footage to show the world what happened?
Nope. Apparently, Hamas holds copyright over their own slaughter videos.… pic.twitter.com/qBsCxxBU8P
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) August 13, 2025
The filmmakers, assert that TIFF is engaging in “censorship” by denying the film a place in the festival.
“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 said in a statement. “Ultimately, film is an art form that stimulates debate from every perspective that can both entertain us and make us uncomfortable.”
Deadline, which first reported the news, said a sticking point was related to the identification and legal clearance of Hamas militants’ own livestreaming of the attack.
The filmmakers pledged to release the film regardless: “We invite audiences, broadcasters and streamers to make up their own mind, once they have seen it.”
The use of cell phones and bodycams to capture criminal acts is a relatively new phenomenon. And it is hardly surprising that the entertainment industry, usually filled with pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel glitterati, would like to hide the horrific footage that Hamas terrorists captured on their sneak attack and subsequent rape and slaughter of the innocents. So this is certainly new legal territory.
So the upside of this news for the creators of “The Road Between Us” is the publicity the film is now getting. And, personally, after the fine work of the Israeli Defense Force, I am thinking there are few Hamas goons left who can actually file a copyright claim in a court of law.
🚨BREAKING🚨 The terrorist who kidnapped IDF female soldier Naama Levy on the morning of October 7 was killed.
According to reports from Gaza, an IDF aircraft yesterday killed the terrorist Muhammad Abu Aseed, an operative in the Hams operation recorded on October 7, kidnapping… pic.twitter.com/vHru2ViJnw
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) September 12, 2024
Plus. there are plenty of talented lawyers ready to help.
I will defend pro bono any person sued for "copyright infringement" arising from use of this video
— Ron Coleman (@RonColeman) August 13, 2025
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Comments
Forget it, Jake, it’s Canada.
Soon. Soon.
Thank you for all you do!
Shouldn’t the French be free and liberated from Canada?
The French or The Quebecoise?
Quebecoise of course I just wanted to make sure everyone knew what I was talking about.
This story makes me sick. The foundations of western civilization is quickly disappearing and these Canadians have no shame.
Garbage Labor aka communist party leadership isn’t helping any.
Canada’s dominant export has become “disappointment.”
This is very good! 🤌
The most surreal item of the day, or damn near. More care for the bad guys. That should be the new motto of these moral clowns.
show it anyways in another location
Ottawa.
The road of self-debasing, feckless, dim-witted, meek, submissive, self-destructive and morally bankrupt dhimmitude leads straight to hell, as Canada, Australia, France, the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and other countries are too tardily discovering.
Given the left and Hamas have the same objective does this surprise anyone?
They aren’t afraid of Hana’s suing them. They are afraid of their fellow leftists rioting in support of Hamas because of this movie being shown.
Cameron Baily is the TIFF chief executive director, He was born in London to parents from Barbados and lo and behold is black. Why I never would have believed it…
Baily and Carney soil themselves thinking they might hurt Hamas’ feelings.
we’re not talking zapruder here–this was video taken by many various people and purposefully uploaded to worldwide services / was broadcast thru various providers
copyright infringement?–come on
screen it here under the lone star–we’ve got folks that will handle any repercussions–legal or otherwise
I don’t think copyright protections apply to evidence of a crime. Not even in Canada.
The film is a documentary. The videos can be used under the “fair use” doctrine, especially considering that the videos were widely broadcast by the “content creators” themselves.
Israel should counter: The creators have no monetary or intellectual interest in videos illegally made in Israel without proper permitting.
If we’re going to be super-stupid about it, let’s get stupid: Hamas didn’t get the necessary releases from the Israelis and others who were videoed in conditions under which they did not agree to being videoed. Hamas legally shouldn’t be able to use the videos themselves for this reason alone.
Oh Canada
Land of the weak
They’ve backed down.
“First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere apologies for any pain this situation may have caused. It was never my intention to offend or alienate anyone…”
Then you’re a bloody idiot. How could anyone not have anticipated the offense this would cause?
They are not idiots they just actually didn’t think anyone would actually notice. We all know they just wanted a reason, any reason, to not show this at their little festival. They don’t want to see what really happened. They assumed they would get away with it. They are used to the media burying stories that don’t reflect well on them. But those days are gone. The internet will find you and everyone will know what you did.
criminals continue to get the love from lefty while innocent people are sh. t upon
Need to fix that headline. It should read:
Toronto Film Fest Drops Oct. 7 Documentary, Fearing Hamas.
You would think that the anti-semitic cowering Canadians would enjoy seeing a movie where jews are violently killed and debased. They’ll probably watch it I the backroom while enjoying snacks…
The TIFF has backtracked….they have dis-disinvited the documentary. They got a lot of backlash plus they probably had the image flash across their anti-semitic minds of audiences filled with our cultural betters wearing today’s updated version of the swastika armband, ie the kefiyah. So, even they could be embarrassed with such an image combined with respecting a Hamas copyright.