In this open letter, Cameron Bailey, co-director of TIFF, responds to John Greyson's decision to withdraw his film Covered from TIFF in protest of the festival's inaugural City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv. Bailey insists on the independence of TIFF's programming decisions from Brand Israel, acknowledges the contested ground of Tel Aviv, and refers to the festival's inclusion of other important films from the region, including films by Palestinian filmmakers and others from Lebanon and Egypt (which are however not part of the Tel Aviv Spotlight series).

*Articles on the 'boycotts vs. censorship' debate surrounding John Greyson's withdrawal of Covered from TIFF in protest against its inaugural City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv are catalogued into item_codes from 2009.055 to 2009.067