UCC demands TIFF cancel “Russians at War” and asks government to investigate funding

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) has called on the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to cancel its screenings of “Russians at War,” a film directed by Russian propagandist Anastasia Trofimova of Russia Today. Furthermore, the UCC is demanding that the Canadian and Ontario governments initiate an urgent investigation into the use of Canadian taxpayers’ money to fund the film’s screening.

Russian-Canadian director Trofimova is a former employee of the propaganda media network Russia Today. For nearly a year, she was with a Russian battalion fighting in eastern Ukraine while filming her “documentary.” The film was produced in co-production between Canada and France.

The documentary received funding of CAD 340,000 (USD 250,358) from the Canadian Media Fund, a public-private partnership supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage, according to the UCC.

The film features the stories of Russian occupiers and only snippets of real battles. Trofimova claims she created an “anti-war” film to show “ordinary people.” The work was meant to challenge the notion that all Russian soldiers are criminals, the director claims.

The UCC contacted the English-language television media organization TVO in Ontario, which is publicly funded and organizing the film’s screening. In its statement, TVO dismissed all accusations and reiterated that they do not plan to cancel the screening.

“TVO naively claims this film wasn’t authorized by Russian officials. A filmmaker can’t embed with a Russian military unit in occupied Ukrainian territory for 7 months without the knowledge, support and permission of the Russian state.

The filmmaker has a long association with RT (Russia Today), a propaganda arm of the Russian state, sanctioned by Canada. Amazingly she has claіmed that she somehow managed not to see any war crimes committed by the Russian soldiers invading Ukraine, who for her are “absolutely ordinary guys,” the UCC’s response to TVO’s statement reads.

The UCC contacted the TIFF organizers in August. “In accepting movies for screening, TIFF is obliged to ensure that the movie was not made in contravention of either the laws of the country on whose sovereign territory the movie was made, or in contravention of Canadian law,” emphasized the UCC, reminding that Trofimova illegally crossed the Ukrainian border, violating Ukrainian laws and Canada’s sanction legislation.

Additionally, the UCC has launched a social media campaign demanding a ban on the film’s screening.

A public scandal erupted after “Russians at War” was shown at the Venice Film Festival on September 5. According to Kyiv Independent, the screening at the TIFF is scheduled for September 10.

Oleh Nikolenko, Ukraine’s Consul General in Toronto, condemned the Toronto International Film Festival organizers for supporting the screening of a film that whitewashes the occupiers. Nikolenko also supported the UCC’s demands.