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October 7 doc The Road Between Us is coming to CBC Gem
The story of a retired general and grandfather who swung into action on October 7 to save his family from the terror attacks in Israel that day, The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue will be available for streaming on CBC Gem beginning Friday, March 13.
It’s already had a roller-coaster ride through festivals and online. As reported in National Post and elsewhere, its world premiere last September at the Toronto International Film Festival was briefly pulled by festival organizers (citing legal and safety concerns) before being reinstated and then winning the coveted People’s Choice Award for best documentary.
It has gone on to play more than 70 festivals around the world, picking up prizes at the Budapest International Documentary Film Festival, audience awards in Palm Beach, Fla., and Australia, and the Dove for Justice prize from the Berlin-based Cinema for Peace awards, which also honoured its subject, retired Israeli general Noam Tibon.
It’s currently available to rent or buy through Amazon Prime and AppleTV, but the CBC Gem debut is a major step forward, says its Canadian director, Barry Avrich.
“We’re very excited about that,” he told National Post. “After we won the prize at TIFF, we reached out to CBC, and they watched the film and said, ‘Yes, we’d love to take it.'”
He added: “I fully recognized this was going to be a difficult acquisition for people who perceive the film as political, and so I’m glad CBC recognized that it’s a story about family.”
The Tibon, family, to be specific. Amir Tibon is a journalist who was living in the Nahal Oz kibbutz, less than a kilometre from the Gaza border, on October 7. When terrorists overran the community, he and his wife and two daughters took shelter in their safe room, and then texted his father. The elder Tibon and his wife were in Tel Aviv, 85 kilometres away. They grabbed a gun, got in their Jeep and drove directly into danger.
Avrich was adamant to keep the story simple, with no discussion of religion or politics. “I think anybody that colours the film as political hasn’t watched it or doesn’t, perhaps, understand it,” he said. “It’s purely about: What would you do if you got a text message from your children saying we’re in trouble?”
If that sounds more like a feature film thriller — well, it’s that too . Even before Avrich approached the Tibon family to tell their story, the film rights had been sold and a script, tentatively titled October 7th, had been written.
“They start filming this summer,” Avrich said, adding that he approached the feature filmmakers to make sure there was no problem in covering the same ground.
“My deal with them was very simple; as long as I released the documentary before their scripted film, then they weren’t going to stand in my way. Not that they could, really, because the general and his family wanted me to make the documentary. But that was an easy deal for me to make.”
Avrich remains in touch with the Tibons. “I just spoke to the general yesterday and they’re…” He pauses. October 7 may be receding, 29 months ago now, but a new conflict is brewing in the Middle East.
“It’s tough. I mean, they’re scared and yet hopeful. These are people that are used to that, to this conflict, but it’s frightening. The general is … fearful of this escalation, there’s no question, but his mission is to protect his family and that’s what he’s doing. He’s hopeful for a resolution, and yet realistic.
Meanwhile, The Road Between Us has also been optioned by Air Canada as an in-flight movie, and Avrich is in talks with two U.S. streaming services as well.
“I don’t want to say who, but we’re hopeful,” he said, adding: “If you’re going to talk about this period in history, this is a different perspective of family. So I’m hoping that will happen in the next few weeks.”
Meanwhile, he’s happy the debacle at TIFF got sorted out, and he’s excited to see this documentary and others play at festivals, in cinemas, on streaming and beyond.
“I hand it to the film festival and any film festival for showing a balance of storytelling on this topic,” he said. “Let the audience ultimately decide. And there are many films coming on this topic. There’s multiple documentaries that have been produced on both sides of the equation here. And I’m all for that. Let the stories be told.”
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