Barry Avrich‘s latest documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue was screened at TIFF 2025
It is about a heroic mission of a retired Israeli General Noam Tibon to rescue his son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren from the kibbutz Nahal Oz near the Gaza border after it was attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023
The film was invited, disinvited, and later reinvited to TIFF
The most talked about film, The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, had its world premiere on Wednesday (September 10) at the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Directed by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich, the controversial documentary reportedly received a three-minute standing ovation in the packed Roy Thomson Hall. The film, on October 7, which was earlier cancelled at the fest, was later reinstated. Amidst the protests outside the screening of the film, it opened to positive reviews.
The Road Between Us shows the journey of retired Israel Defence Forces Major-General Noam Tibon and his wife Gali, who are on the way to their son’s home on the Nahal Oz kibbutz near the northern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas terror attack on Israel. The human-centric film shows Tibon rescuing his son Amir, daughter-in-law Miri, and two grandchildren and numerous civilians from Hamas.
As per a report in The Hollywood Reporter, after the screening, Tibon told the audience, “Family is the most important thing we’ve got,” and added, “This is worldwide.”
Earlier, he had told the publication, “I kept thinking ‘what if I get there and they’re all dead?’”
“But then I had to push the thought out of my mind because I wouldn’t have been able to go on.”
Gali shared, “Two years after Oct. 7, I still don’t believe it happened to us,” and added, “We are so joyful our family made it through but our hearts are with the families that are grieving.”
Ahead of the world premiere, Avrich told Deadline that he was happy that the film was reinstated, but it was "emotionally stressful" for him. “Did I anticipate that certainly there would be some controversy with the film, debate and dialogue, because we filmed in Israel? Yes, but that to me was just noise, because again, anybody that would have an issue with the film hasn’t seen it. And so I always hoped… that the takeaway was going to be the family and not the politics. If that’s naive, so be it. But I cared about what [Gen. Tibon] accomplished on that day,” he said.
