Festival:
The 47th Toronto International Film Festival
Dates:
September 8-18
About:
This world-class Fall cinema event returns closer to its pre-pandemic numbers, offering 30 feature docs or hybrids among its approximately 200 presentations.
Among the offerings:
752 IS NOT A NUMBER
Director: Babak Payami
Dentist Hamed Esmaeilion is on a quest for justice in the aftermath of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, shot down in 2020 by the Iranian military.
CINÉ-GUERRILLAS: SCENES FROM THE LABUDOVIC REELS
Director: Mila Turajlic
The story of Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito’s favorite cameraman, the Algerian War for Independence, and an untold chapter in the history of anti-colonial cinema.
FREE MONEY
Director: Sam Soko, Lauren DeFilippo
A chronicle of the consequences, both intended and unintended, when everyone in a Kenyan village is offered a universal basic income by a US organization.
THE GRAB
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
An investigative journalist uncovers the money, influence, and alarming rationale behind covert land grabs by some of the world’s most powerful countries.
IN HER HANDS
Director: Tamana Ayazi, Marcel Mettelsiefen
In the months leading up to the Taliban takeover in 2021, Afghanistan’s youngest female mayor, Zarifa Ghafari, deals with danger, uncertainty, and personal turmoil.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES
Director: Sacha Jenkins
Drawing on Louis Armstrong’s audio diaries, a revisitation of the music and reappraisal of the politics of the legendary jazz trumpeter and singer.
MAYA AND THE WAVE
Director: Stephanie Johnes
World-champion Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira battles against monster waves as well as chauvinism in the field of competitive surfing.
PATRICK AND THE WHALE
Director: Mark Fletcher
An exploration of the wondrous world of whales.
PRAY FOR OUR SINNERS
Director: Sinéad O’Shea
The stories of everyday citizens resisting the status quo confront Ireland’s recent history of brutality against children and women, ranging from corporal punishment to state-sanctioned mother and baby homes.
SIDNEY
Director: Reginald Hudlin
A sweeping portrait of the late, great Sidney Poitier surveys his films, life story, and litany of accomplishments as an artist and activist who forever changed what it means to be Black in America.
TO KILL A TIGER
Director: Nisha Pahuja
A harrowing, courageous, and universally resonant look at an Indian family’s arduous quest for justice after a teenage girl is brutally assaulted.
WHILE WE WATCHED
Director: Vinay Shukla
A examination of how independent news reporting in India and beyond is increasingly under threat by budgetary cuts and, especially, extremists leveraging alternative platforms to spread misinformation.
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