The Canadian media organization TVO (TV Ontario), which provided funding for the production of “Russians at War,” a controversial film by a Russian director, has decided not to show it further, according to European Pravda.
The film screening at the Venice International Film Festival sparked protest from the Ukrainian community, who accused it of being a vehicle of Russian propaganda. The film director Anastasia Trofimova worked at the sanctioned state-owned Russia Today sanctioned by the US, the EU, the UK, Australia and Ukraine for systematically spreading the Kremlin’s disinformation. She described her mission as telling “another story” of Russian soldiers to challenge Western “stereotypes,” an aim slammed as “a prime example of pure Russian propaganda” by Ukrainian filmmaker Darya Bassel.
The film Russians at War was already screened on 5 September at the Venice International Film Festival. The director stated that she spent seven months with a Russian battalion fighting in Ukraine and was shocked to discover that they were “completely ordinary guys with families and a sense of humor.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis expressed outrage that the Venice Film Festival showcased this film.
On 10 September, a statement was published on behalf of the network’s Board of Directors, stating that they had listened to the feedback and arguments about the film from the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
“The TVO Board of Directors has decided to respect the feedback we received, and TVO will no longer support or broadcast the film ‘Russians at War’. TVO will review how the funding process for this project began,” the statement reads.
TVO is an agency under the Ministry of Education of the Canadian province of Ontario and operates as a non-profit organization.
The Russian director’s film received funding from the Canada Media Fund through TVO of $340,000.
It is worth noting that the Consulate General of Ukraine in Toronto protested against plans to screen Russians at War at the local international film festival.
Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister of Ukrainian descent, Chrystia Freeland, also expressed concern that the film was set to be shown at a Canadian festival.
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