2024-09-11 |

2024-09-11 | Outrage has erupted over a film created by Russian Director and propagandist Anastasia Trofimova, called ‘Russians at War’. Calls for its screening to be pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival have intensified; surely festival organizers should have reacted when the film was showcased at the Venice International Film Festival, despite the public uproar it caused.

‪@SiliconWafers‬
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Breaking news, as this episode was being recorded, the Canadian broadcaster TVO made a statement that it had withdrawn support from the documentary "Russians at War" following protests from the Ukrainian community, and in fact far more widely than that.

But this controversy pales beside news that the film was part-financed by the Canadian government to the tune of $312,000 US dollars. This despite the fact Canada is an ally of Ukraine in its existential fight against the Russian army. A rabble army of murderers, looters and rapists that the Canadian-Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova seeks to absolve and whitewash of their documented war crimes. This is the accusation, but does it stand up to scrutiny? This video examines the controversy and the film itself to understand if the propaganda motive outweighs any artistic merits.

If a malign actor, or an openly aggressive revanchist state like Russia, invests money in an information project, with the aim of manipulating the media space and public discourse, to alter both perceptions and policies in that country to favour its own strategic interests, then that is paid for speech, not free speech. And if the parties creating and disseminating those media products don’t declare their financial interests, that is disclosure in transparent fashion of who is funding the project, so we can better understand their motives and objectives, then really, this is not free speech, but an informational weapon, an assault on public discourse.
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Sources and recommended reading:
https://kyivindependent.com/opinion-r...
https://kyivindependent.com/outrage-e...
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