Canadian actor Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers returned her Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) award on Wednesday after a reference to Palestine was edited out of her video acceptance speech, prompting an explosive fallout from the organization’s members that included the president stepping down.
In an email sent to the TFCA that was obtained by the Star, Tailfeathers wrote she was “profoundly disgusted” by the association’s decision to edit her speech during Monday’s gala. TFCA president Johanna Schneller defended the move by noting that other speeches were also cut down, though several of the group’s members have resigned in support of Tailfeathers, citing censorship concerns and leaving an uncertain future for the awards body.
Tailfeathers, a 41-year-old from Alberta who has been acting since 2008, won the award for outstanding supporting performance in a Canadian film for “Sweet Angel Baby.”
In the portion that was cut from her video, Tailfeathers said, “When we were shooting ‘Sweet Angel Baby,’ October 7th happened, and it changed everything. I just want to say my heart continues to be with the people of Palestine who are experiencing this ongoing genocide and thank you to anyone in this industry who’s been brave enough to say anything.”
The full, unedited speech ran two minutes and 26 seconds. Tailfeathers said Schneller told her after the ceremony that the video had to be trimmed to one minute, despite being given no length restrictions initially, and the TFCA chose to prioritize the sections about her work on the movie.
Schneller, who is also a film critic for the Globe and Mail, took full responsibility for the decision in a statement to the Star, saying that the speech was shortened to “maintain the timing of the awards show.”
The speech was posted in full to the TFCA’s Instagram on Wednesday night, but it has since been deleted. The organization has been hosting annual awards since 1997 and had 46 members before some began dropping out on Wednesday. Pat Mullen, the publisher of POV Magazine who is now the acting president of the TFCA, did not respond to a request for comment on the future of the awards body.
In her email, Tailfeathers called the edit a deliberate choice to “neutralize and censor my words.”
“I refuse to accept that this choice had to do with a time limit, especially knowing that my statement on Palestine was two sentences long,” she added.
Critic Sarah-Tai Black explained her choice to withdraw from the TFCA by saying that she “refuses to be part of censoring Indigenous voices speaking to urgent global struggles against settler-colonialism and Western imperialism.”
Some contributors to the Star, including Adam Nayman, Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Saffron Maeve, announced on social media that they left the organization due to the controversy.
Despite some chaos within the TFCA, Thom Ernst, a freelance film commentator, sent an email to all the group’s members urging them to remain.
“I understand and respect the anger and frustration many members are feeling right now … That’s why I hope we might pause before considering a mass withdrawal of membership. Leaving certainly makes a strong statement, but it may also silence the very voices that are most needed right now.”
