Outrage erupts over Canadian tax dollars funding ‘Russians at War’ documentary

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Canada’s broadcaster TVO’s statement. TVO has withdrawn support from a documentary about Russians soldiers, following protests from the Ukranian community.
The controversy surrounding Canadian-Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova’s “Russians at War” documentary has intensified following revelations that Canada, despite being a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia, awarded public funds to a film that is accused of whitewashing Russian war crimes.
“Russians at War” is being marketed by the filmmakers as an anti-war documentary, and Trofimova has claimed in press coverage that she came to view the Russian soldiers she filmed as “absolutely ordinary guys” who are tools in a political game.
Critics say that the film’s attempts to “humanize” Russian soldiers are an affront to Ukrainian victims, particularly in light of the nearly 150,000 documented Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine since 2022.
The film was recently showcased at the Venice International Film Festival and, in spite of public backlash, is being presented at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the largest organization representing the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, has been one of the most vocal critics of “Russians at War.” They have repeatedly raised the issue over the amount of public and private Canadian funding – at least $312,000 (425,000 Canadian dollars) – the film received.
“There’s a lot of finger-pointing at who made the decision, and it looks like there are actually many organizations, public and private, who funded this film,” Ihor Michalchyshyn, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, told the Kyiv Independent.
“We will be asking and demanding accountability with regards to the public money and for all private funders to justify how they could have decided this was a good project to spend money on. It’s easy to understand how this is a piece of Russian propaganda.”
While initial public outrage over “Russians at War” related to the film’s premise, attention has since shifted to the questions surrounding the ethics of Trofimova’s reporting.
In an Aug. 19 letter to Jeffrey Remedios, chair of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Board of Directors, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress raised its concerns over the possibility of Trofimova not having entered Ukraine through official channels.
“If it is indeed the case (that Trofimova) has illegally crossed the internationally recognized Ukraine-Russia border, (then she has) violated Ukrainian law and possibly breached Canadian sanctions,” the letter read.
Trofimova later publicly acknowledged reaching the front line by entering from the Russian side, where border control is essentially non-existent due to heavy fighting, in a Sept. 8 interview with the Globe and Mail.
“For me to go to Ukraine as a Russian, I would be branded a spy or attacked. The fact that I used to work for RT Documentary doesn’t help. I wouldn’t have been able to cover both sides of the front,” she said.
“I got this incredible chance – did (critics) expect that I would phone up the embassy in Kyiv and ask if it was okay?”
“I’m a citizen of Russia and by Russia standards, this is now considered to be Russian territory, you can just pass through there if you have your passport,” she added in a Sept. 8 interview with POV Magazine.
Trofimova claims that she embedded with the Russian military in Ukraine for seven months without obtaining the Russian Defense Ministry’s permission. This claim has been met with skepticism, particularly due to the work’s portrayal of Russian soldiers in a sympathetic light.
The Kyiv Independent was not able to note any instances of an independent journalist without any affiliations to Russian-state media who reported on the ground with the Russian military without such permission.
The ambiguity surrounding Trofimova’s front-line reporting is further complicated by the fact that the film received $250,000 (340,000 Canadian dollars) from the Canada Media Fund — a public-private partnership supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage — during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The film’s end credits state that it was produced by the publicly-funded broadcaster TVO, formerly TVOntario, in collaboration with the Canada Media Fund.
Canadian officials have stressed that the Canada Media Fund operates independently in its funding decisions, without direct government involvement.
“Our government has stood with Ukraine every step of the way through this illegal and unjustified Russian invasion. The Canada Media Fund is independent and is looking into this. We defer to their comment,” a spokesperson from the Canadian heritage minister’s office told the Kyiv Independent. The spokesperson declined to be identified in the article by name.
According to Matheiu Chantelois, executive vice president of marketing and public affairs at the Canada Media Fund, TVO chose to fund “Russians at War” through the fund’s broadcaster envelope program, “where broadcasters independently choose projects.”
The Canada Media Fund relies on “trusted and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission-regulated broadcasters to ensure the project conforms to the programming standards,” he added.
In light of the controversy surrounding the film, the Canada Media Fund has reportedly been in contact with both the Toronto International Film Festival organizers and the documentary’s producers.
The Kyiv Independent asked Chantelois to initiate contact with both parties to get their perspective on the public outcry. While the Canada Media Fund said that they forwarded the request to the organizers of the film festival, no acknowledgment was given regarding the request to be put in touch with the film’s producers.
The Toronto International Film Festival’s organizers did not respond, including to the Kyiv Independent’s separate media request, by the time of this article’s publication.
The Canada Media Fund declined to comment on concerns regarding potential lapses in due diligence related to the the funding of Trofimova’s film, such as her previous collaboration with Russian state-controlled media outlet RT, which is sanctioned in Canada, and her illegal crossing into Ukraine. They told the Kyiv Independent that they “cannot speak on behalf of TIFF or TVO.”
“We remain committed to supporting Canadian content that reflects a wide array of voices and stories, while also understanding the sensitivity of the subject matter and the potential for differing interpretations,” Chantelois wrote.
The documentary also received private funding totaling $62,000 (85,000 Canadian dollars) from the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund, a major fund for Canadian documentary filmmakers.
According to its 2022 annual report, the Rogers Documentary Fund also awarded “Russians at War” among 42 other “provocative productions” that together received $2.2 million (3 million Canadian dollars) in total. However, the exact amount each film received in the report is not specified.
Trofimova is the only recipient whose last name was withheld from the report, and the project is described as reporting “on the ground in Russia.”
Neither Hot Docs nor the Rogers Documentary Fund responded to the Kyiv Independent’s requests for comment.
Despite numerous calls to pull the screenings of “Russians at War,” the film is still slated to be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10, 13, 14, and 15, according to the festival’s official website.
The CMF provided $14,696 (20,000 Canadian dollars) in funding to the Toronto International Film Festival this year, which they told the Kyiv Independent is “comparable to many other Canadian screen industry events and film festivals.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress organized a protest on Sept. 10 in light of the festivals’ failure to cancel screenings of “Russians at War.”
A correspondent from the Kyiv Independent who was at the protests reported that hundreds of people attended. The demonstration featured vocal chants such as “Russia is a terrorist state” and “Shame on TIFF.”
Yvan Baker, one of the most prominent Ukrainian Canadian lawmakers, released a public statement not only calling for the Toronto Film Festival to cancel all screenings but for the Canada Media Fund to investigate how and why their funding was used, as well as for TVO to call back their public support of the film.
The documentary “whitewashes Russia’s crimes against the people of Ukraine by falsely portraying members of Russia’s military as victims and by absolving them of their responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine and the war crimes they have committed,” Baker wrote. “TVO receives an annual Canada Media Fund allocation, which includes some federal contributions, and it should live up to the expectations of Canadians in the content choices it makes.”
TVO did not respond to the Kyiv Independent’s request for comment by the time of the publication of this article.
On Sept. 10, TVO announced that it will not be airing a controversial documentary about Russian soldiers, following protests from the Ukrainian-Canadian community. TVO’s board of directors said in a statement that they have chosen to “respect the feedback” from the community regarding “Russians at War,” a film portraying Russian soldiers’ disillusionment with the invasion of Ukraine.
TVO had earlier defended the documentary, describing it as an “antiwar film” created at great personal risk by the filmmaker. The broadcaster also encouraged viewers to watch the film “for themselves” before forming an opinion.
TVO had originally intended to broadcast the documentary “in the coming months.” Instead, the broadcaster will no longer support or air ”Russians at War.” “TVO will be reviewing the process by which this project was funded and our brand leveraged,” reads the statement.
According to Michalchyshyn, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress is determined to continue its pushback against “Russians at War,” as there have been no indications from the Toronto International Film Festival or TVO that they plan to withdraw their support for the film.
“The filmmaker has been very manipulative of how she’s been looking for support and receiving it,” Michalchyshyn said.
“Canadians beyond the Ukrainian community are also outraged. We’re all concerned and we will continue to work on this and make sure there’s accountability.”
Hi, this is Kate Tsurkan, sharing an important culture-related story from Ukraine. It’s honestly a bit maddening to see that this film about Russian soldiers got funded and made in the first place but that’s why we need to ask the right questions to get accountability.  If you like reading such stories, please consider supporting The Kyiv Independent.