> In a letter to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, Ukrainian Consul General Oleh Nikolenko said the film Russians at War attempts to absolve the soldiers in question of responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine.
> “It is irresponsible to allow the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the most reputable world film stages, to be used to whitewash the responsibility of Russian soldiers committing war crimes in Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion,” Nikolenko wrote in the letter dated Sept. 5.
> The documentary from Russian Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week and is set to make its North American debut at TIFF on Friday.
> ***The synopsis on TIFF’s website says the film depicts the soldiers’ disillusionment with the war as they learn the story they were sold in Russia is false.***
Ukraine, I love what you’re doing, but you have no case here. Even if it presented the invasion as just and righteous (which, per TIFF, *it doesn’t*), all Canadian citizens are entitled to freedom of speech.
Besides. We should hate Moscow for sending soldiers into another sovereign nation, not the average Russian soldier who – let’s be honest – was most likely yanked away in a black van as part of the “draft.”
(Does that absolve plenty of Russians of obvious war crimes? Of course not. But no two soldiers are the same.)
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> In a letter to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, Ukrainian Consul General Oleh Nikolenko said the film Russians at War attempts to absolve the soldiers in question of responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine.
> “It is irresponsible to allow the Toronto International Film Festival, one of the most reputable world film stages, to be used to whitewash the responsibility of Russian soldiers committing war crimes in Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion,” Nikolenko wrote in the letter dated Sept. 5.
> The documentary from Russian Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week and is set to make its North American debut at TIFF on Friday.
> ***The synopsis on TIFF’s website says the film depicts the soldiers’ disillusionment with the war as they learn the story they were sold in Russia is false.***
Ukraine, I love what you’re doing, but you have no case here. Even if it presented the invasion as just and righteous (which, per TIFF, *it doesn’t*), all Canadian citizens are entitled to freedom of speech.
Besides. We should hate Moscow for sending soldiers into another sovereign nation, not the average Russian soldier who – let’s be honest – was most likely yanked away in a black van as part of the “draft.”
(Does that absolve plenty of Russians of obvious war crimes? Of course not. But no two soldiers are the same.)