‘Russians at War’ documentary at TIFF sparks backlash over Canadian funding
Global News
The film, 'Russians at War,' was helmed by a Russian-Canadian director and purports to show Russian soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine grappling with the war.
Ukrainian diplomats and advocates in Canada are calling on the Toronto International Film Festival to cancel screenings of a documentary depicting Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine that they say amounts to “Russian propaganda.”
The film, Russians At War, is having its North American premiere at TIFF on Tuesday after showing out of competition at the Venice Film Festival this month. It was helmed by a Russian-Canadian director and was funded by Canadian public broadcasters — in part through government grants — and an Oscar-nominated Canadian producer.
The director, Anastasia Trofimova, spent seven months embedded with a Russian army battalion in eastern Ukrainian territory occupied by Moscow’s forces to make the film, which she says was done without the Russian government’s knowledge. She and her financial backers have said the film shows the soldiers losing faith in the fight and seeks to humanize the ordinary men caught up in Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian critics argue that amounts to whitewashing Russia’s war crimes.
“We believe this film is Russian propaganda,” Oleh Nikolenko, Ukraine’s consul general in Toronto, told Global News in an interview.
“They’re trying to blur the responsibility of Russian military actions in Ukraine — and equate the aggressor and the victim.”
Nikolenko said he has not seen the film but has concerns that it makes no mention of the mass civilian casualties in Ukraine or other crimes committed by the Russians in their nearly three-year invasion. He also says Trofimova’s past work for the Russian state-controlled media company RT, and her unfettered access to Russian troops, are cause for suspicion, and that crossing into Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory with the unit violated Ukrainian law.
He said TIFF management “has not demonstrated willingness to address our concerns” after weeks of “intensive communications,” and screenings of the film were set to go ahead this week. A demonstration is set to go ahead in front of the Scotiabank Theatre, which is hosting the premiere, on Tuesday afternoon.