Turning 40 this year, the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, Thursday, September 10, screening well over 275 new feature films in addition to retrospectives, shorts, and industry programming before it wraps on Sunday, September 20. This year sees a notable increase in nonfiction programming, with just over 50 new docs or hybrid projects by my count compared to approximately 35 last year. I’ll be in attendance for the first half of the festival, especially hoping to have a chance to catch up with the following highlights:
As ever, the home for the majority of Toronto’s nonfiction is the TIFF Docs section, programmed by DOC NYC’s own Thom Powers. Among the portraiture on offer this year is DOC NYC’s recently announced opening night selection, MISS SHARON JONES (pictured), the new music doc from the acclaimed Barbara Kopple; THRU YOU PRINCESS, Ido Haar’s look at the collaboration between a New Orleans performer and an Israeli viral video artist; PS JERUSALEM, Danae Elon’s personal, conflicted meditation on living in Israel; NASSER, Jihan El-Tahri’s profile of the late Egyptian leader; GUANTANAMO’S CHILD: OMAR KHADR, Patrick Reed and Michelle Shephard’s recounting of a fifteen-year-old boy’s decade in American detention; and WOMEN HE’S UNDRESSED, Gilliam Armstrong’s love letter to the secretive Hollywood costume designer Orry-Kelly.
TIFF Docs also offers several intriguing looks at institutions and communities, such as Nick Read and Mark Franchetti’s BOLSHOI BABYLON (pictured), an inside look at the legendary ballet company in the wake of a startling attack on its director; Daniel Leconte and Emmanuel Leconte’s JE SUIS CHARLIE, a look at the response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks; Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Geeta Gandbhir’s A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES: PEACEKEEPERS, which profiles Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers as they respond to the Haiti earthquake; Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola’s RETURN OF THE ATOM, about the ill-fated development of a Finnish nuclear power plant; and Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’ WELCOME TO FL, which looks at Quebec high school students as they face their futures.
Echoing last year’s selections, there’s not a single documentary in the highest profile Galas section, and just one in Special Presentations: WHERE TO INVADE NEXT (pictured), Michael Moore’s contemplation of how America could do a better job at invading foreign countries. The Masters section offers Patricio Guzmán’s latest film, THE PEARL BUTTON, which focus on the genocide of the indigenous people of Patagonia; as well as Alexander Sokurov’s hybrid, FRANCOFONIA, a chronicle of France’s historical championing of arts and culture.
This year’s festival sees the launch of two new sections: Platform, a new juried strand, whose sole doc is Alan Zweig’s HURT, on Canadian Steve Fonyo, who received acclaim for a cross-country run for cancer; and Primetime, a focus on television, which includes Morgan Neville’s KEITH RICHARDS: UNDER THE INFLUENCE, on the Rolling Stones guitarist. There’s also one doc in City to City, the fest’s annual spotlight on a single city – this year, London: George Amponsah’s THE HARD STOP (pictured), about the police murder that ignited the 2011 London Riots.
The fest’s largest section, Contemporary World Cinema, includes four hybrids: Leanne Pooley’s 25 APRIL, on the bloody WWI Gallipoli campaign; Christopher Doyle’s HONG KONG TRILOGY: PRESCHOOLED PREOCCUPIED PREPOSTEROUS, which alternately focuses on kids, teens, and seniors; Ivan Ostrochovský’s KOZA (pictured), in which a Roma boxer seeks funds for an abortion; and Zhang Yang’s PATHS OF THE SOUL, about a pilgrimage to Lhasa.
Finally, Wavelengths, the fest’s experimental strand, also includes several hybrids and nonfiction works, such as: Mark Lewis’ city symphony, INVENTION; Pietro Marcello’s ode to a shepherd turned threatened palace caretaker, LOST AND BEAUTIFUL; Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’ hybrid portrait of Ciudad Juarez, SANTA TERESA AND OTHER STORIES; and Roberto Minervini’s semi-doc on Louisianans living on the fringe, THE OTHER SIDE (pictured).
what (not) to doc 