Together with what usually seems the entirety of the film industry, I’ll be headed up to Canada later this week for the Toronto International Film Festival, the event that, for me, marks the start of the new festival year (sadly I’ve never been to Telluride or Venice). For quite some time now, TIFF has been the pre-eminent North American launching pad for critically and commercially successful films, setting off awards buzz. Many of the titles premiering at the festival will be making their way to theatres before the end of the year, but industry and public audiences get an early, taste-making look at eventual Oscar nominees.
Of course, while trying to catch some of these hopefuls, my focus is on the festival’s non-fiction programming. This year, by my count, there are 38 feature-length documentaries, with the majority represented in the festival’s Real to Reel section, programmed by Thom Powers. Twelve additional docs are spread out among seven other sections. I’m going to do my best to see as many of these as possible within the six days I’m attending, and hope to catch ones I miss if they’re programmed at Powers’ DOC NYC and Stranger Than Fiction series.
Highlights of the 26 titles in Real to Reel include a number of new films by established filmmakers, including: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s third film focusing on the West Memphis 3, PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY (pictured above), though the changes made possible by the recent happy ending of the case will have to wait for the cut screening at the New York Film Festival; CRAZY HORSE (pictured), the legendary Frederick Wiseman’s look at the Parisian erotic revue; the incomparable Werner Herzog’s investigation into a triple homicide, INTO THE ABYSS; URBANIZED, the third film in Gary Hustwit’s design trilogy, looking at urban design; LAST CALL AT THE OASIS, the eagerly anticipated new film by Oscar-winner Jessica Yu, about the world’s water crisis; fellow Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney’s hockey doc, THE LAST GLADIATORS; COMIC-CON: EPISODE IV – A FAN’S HOPE, Morgan Spurlock’s exploration of the massive annual comic book and pop culture spectacle; the often controversial Nick Broomfield’s unauthorized profile of a celebrity politician, SARAH PALIN – YOU BETCHA!; and Jonathan Demme’s I’M CAROLYN PARKER, about a New Orleans woman’s struggle to rebuild after Katrina. I should note that this section also includes celebrated Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s divisive semi-documentary ARIRANG, which I wrote about out of Karlovy Vary and would not recommend at all.
Other eagerly anticipated documentaries in the section by familiar names include: Ashley Sabin and David Redmond’s provocative exploration of the dark side of the international modeling industry, GIRL MODEL (pictured); WHORES’ GLORY by Austrian Michael Glawogger (WORKINGMAN’S DEATH), an observational doc on prostitution; Léa Pool’s exposé on the intersection between breast cancer and corporate fundraising, PINK RIBBONS INC; and the newest film from Andrey Paounov (THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM AND OTHER STORIES), THE BOY WHO WAS A KING, about Bulgaria’s exiled six-year-old tsar turned Prime Minister.
I also hope to catch Tony Krawitz’s THE TALL MAN, about the death of an aboriginal man in Australia; SURVIVING PROGRESS (pictured), Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks’ exploration of the downside to theoretically progressive societal innovations; and am intrigued by Stephen Kessler’s PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE, though wary about the filmmaker’s presence in the film. While it’s hard to imagine finding a spare 15 hours, I hope to see at least part of Mark Cousins’ THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY, though I did not have a great response to his previous film, THE FIRST MOVIE.
Among docs featured in the festival’s other sections, I’ll likely pass on the music-themed/concert films – U2, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and Paul McCartney are all represented, and directed by luminaries Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan Demme, Cameron Crowe, and Albert Maysles, respectively – but hope to finally catch Wim Wenders’ 3D dance film PINA (pictured), which has proven elusive at multiple other festivals I’ve attended this year.
Wenders’ film is one of only two docs in the festival’s Masters section. I’d like to see the other one, THIS IS NOT A FILM, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and Jafar Panahi’s day-in-the-life of the latter filmmaker, as he deals with being under house arrest for creating “propaganda” against his government. Two other political films are on my radar, both in the Mavericks section: TAHRIR 2011: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE POLITICIAN (pictured), a three-part look at Egypt after Mubarak; and Jon Shenk’s portrait of the Maldives’ leader, Mohamed Nasheed, THE ISLAND PRESIDENT.
Finally, I’ve heard exceptional things about THE PATRON SAINTS, a title screening in the festival’s spotlight on local productions, Canada First! The debut feature by Brian M Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky offers a unique look at a facility that cares for the elderly and disabled.
what (not) to doc 
Make Sure in addition to THE BOY WHO WAS A KING, you see Bess Kargman’s FIRST POSITION, the doc playing in the TIFF KIDS section