Gripping Israel Oct. 7 documentary wins people’s choice award at TIFF

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The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, Canadian director Barry Avrich’s gripping account of one family’s fight for survival during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, has won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film follows retired Israeli general Noam Tibon as he races across a country under siege to save his son, journalist Amir Tibon, and his family from terrorists who have infiltrated their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz near the border with Gaza.

Avrich used interviews with both men, a walk-through of the places Noam visited, dashcam and Israeli army footage, and even bodycam video live-streamed by the terrorists, to create a documentary “with the raw urgency of a survival film,” TIFF wrote in a press release.

“You could make an excellent dramatic thriller out of the bones of Noam’s story,” National Post film reviewer Chris Knight wrote this week.

The honour caps a tumultuous festival run for The Road Between Us.

TIFF organizers had pulled the documentary from the schedule in August, citing a failure to meet “legal clearance for all footage.” That decision was swiftly met with backlash from Canadian politicians and a consortium of Hollywood celebrities — including Amy Schumer, Howie Mandel, Debra Messing and Mayim Bialik — who penned a letter condemning the move.

In it, they said such silencing of “Israeli and Jewish” creatives is becoming too common since Hamas’s attack.

“The deliberate effort to marginalize and silence Jewish voices in the arts worldwide is intolerable, and it cannot be allowed to persist,” the letter read.

It wasn’t long before TIFF reinstated the film and CEO Cameron Bailey apologized. He did so again at the sold-out premiere last week in Toronto.

“I want to apologize, especially to the Jewish community, for mistakes I made in the lead-up to this day,” he told the audience before the Wednesday screening. “In an environment of rising, dangerous antisemitism, I want to apologize.”

While a small group of anti-Israel demonstrators protested outside sold-out Roy Thomson Hall, Avrich received a standing ovation before the film played.

In an emailed statement to National Post, Avrich said he was humbled and overwhelmed by the premiere audience’s response.

“And to now win the TIFF People’s Choice Award validates our mission to make films for audiences and let them alone decide how they want to interpret the story, after they have actually seen the film.”

The Road Between Us opens in theatres on Oct. 3 with a roll-out in the top 20 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, Montreal and West Palm Beach.

Avrich told National Post this week he hopes schools and community organizations, regardless of their faith, see his film.

“It’s a story of family. As we’ve said, there’s a universal message,” he said. “So I’m going to make sure that no stone is unturned, and that anybody who wants to see this film, anybody that should see this film, sees it.”

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