Statement by The Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO – Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF and Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of the Toronto International Film Festival issued the following statement regarding City to City programme.
"The Toronto International Film Festival stands by our choice of Tel Aviv as the inaugural focus for the City to City programme and we welcome the discussion that is being prompted by our series. We programmed City to City to give our audience a window into Tel Aviv from the perspective of filmmakers who live and work there -- this includes filmmakers who cast a critical eye on the status quo. The city's filmmakers are experiencing a renaissance right now, and we congratulate Tel Aviv director Samuel Maoz on winning the top prize Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his film LEBANON. Healthy debate about the role of cinema in society is at the core of our Festival every year.
It is unfortunate that the producers of the film HELIOPOLIS have decided to withdraw their film in protest of this year’s City to City programme. While director Ahmad Abdalla has voiced his opposition to the programme, he is a champion of ensuring that filmmakers from the Arab world continue to have a voice at our Festival. The producers, however, have the legal authority to withdraw the film.
The authors of the Toronto Declaration have not called for a boycott of TIFF. It is unfortunate that the producers have decided to take this action, independent of the original disagreement that sparked the Declaration.
We have had to cancel the first screening for THE TRAVELLER due to a legal dispute between the Italian producer and the Egyptian producer, the Ministry of Culture. The Festival has received no communication from the film's director or producers referring to the issues surrounding the City to City programme. We are hopeful that the outstanding legal issues will be resolved and that the film might arrive in time for the scheduled screenings later this week.
We continue to encourage everyone engaged in the CTC debate to keep the work of these filmmakers front and centre as we all grapple with that eternal question: what can art do?"