Ukraine demands to remove 'Russians at War' film from Toronto Film Festival

Nikolenko wrote about this on his Facebook page.

‘We strongly oppose the attempt to use the Toronto International Film Festival TIFF to whitewash the crimes of Russian soldiers in Ukraine,’ Nikolenko said.

In support of his point, he noted that the film, made by former Russia Today documentarian Anastasia Trofimova, who recently criticized Russian atrocities in Bucha in her speeches in Venice, ‘infantilizes’ the Russian invaders and absolves them of responsibility for their actions.

‘Portraying Russian soldiers as merely ‘pawns’ and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as ‘a nefarious game’ lends credence to Russian propaganda narratives that downplay the gravity and suffering caused by Russia’s military actions. Thousands of documented cases exist of Russian troops raping, torturing, murdering, and dehumanizing Ukrainians,’ the Consul General stressed.

He also called on the organizers of the film festival to explain why Canadian taxpayers' money is being used to finance Russian propaganda, “which Canada is otherwise investing enormous resources to combat”. 

‘We believe that showcasing the film 'Russians at War' by Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova is unacceptable. It is irresponsible to allow the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the world’s most reputable film stages, to be used to disseminate Russian propaganda. We call on the festival to cancel the screening of this film,’ he concluded.

TIFF organizers have not yet commented on the situation. The film 'Russians at War' is still available on the TIFF website.

Reaction of the Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada

Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Yulia Kovaliv expressed concern over the inclusion of the film 'Russians at War' in the program of the Toronto International Film Festival. She wrote about this on her page on the social network X.

‘We are deeply disappointed by TIFF decision to show the Russian propaganda film in the program this year. With the TIFF mission “to transform the way people see the world through film”, we see this as an attempt to whitewash war crimes, Russian soldiers committed in Ukraine’ she said.

In addition, Kovaliv stressed that she considers it ‘irresponsible for TIFF, one of the world’s most reputable film stages, to be used to disseminate Russian propaganda’.

‘We call on the festival to cancel this film screening,’ she concluded.

• The non-competitive program of the Venice Film Festival continues to show the documentary ‘Russians at War’ by Russian Anastasia Trofimova, who wants to show the world that Russian soldiers are ‘not beasts, but ordinary people’.
• Anti-Israel protesters disrupt the opening ceremony of the Toronto International Film Festival, chanting: ‘Stop the genocide,’ during the opening remarks of the organizers.