The Toronto International Film Festival’s® 2017 documentary program presents a distinct collection of works from award-winning directors with an increased number of world premieres and potential awards contenders.
The TIFF Docs section will open with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, a film that captures the legendary performer on and off stage. The lineup features celebrated filmmakers, including Morgan Spurlock, who reignites his battle with the food industry in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!; Brett Morgen, with his portrait of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; Greg Barker, who grants viewers unprecedented access into President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team in The Final Year; Frederick Wiseman, who takes us behind the scenes of a New York institution in Ex Libris – The New York Public Library; and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who follow three Hasidic Jews who attempt to enter the secular world in One of Us. The TIFF Docs Program is made possible through the sponsorship of A+E IndieFilms.
“Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries,” said TIFF Docs programmer Thom Powers. “We pay witness to rebels challenging the status quo in art, politics, sexuality, religion, fashion, sports and entertainment. They speak powerfully to our times as audiences seek inspirations for battling powerful and corrupt systems.”
The theme of resistance plays out in a diverse range of films, including Jed Rothstein’s The China Hustle, executive produced by Alex Gibney and Frank Marshall, which confronts a new era of Wall Street fraud; Matt Tyrnauer’s Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, which profiles the sexual taboo breaker Scotty Bowers; Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman’s Silas, which portrays Liberian activist Silas Siakor; and Erika Cohn’s The Judge, which follows the first female Shari’a judge, Kholoud Al-Faqih, practicing law in the West Bank.
We gain insights into high-profile figures in the worlds of entertainment and sports in films such as Chris Smith’s JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond – the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton, which examines Jim Carrey’s immersion into the role of Andy Kaufman; Lili Fini Zanuck’s Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, which delivers the definitive biography of the rock legend; and Jason Kohn’s Love Means Zero, which investigates the controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and his history with Andre Agassi.
Several films deepen our understanding of black cultural figures, including Sam Pollard’s Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me on the complex career of the multi-talented Rat Pack performer; Kate Novack’s The Gospel According to Andrรฉ on the trend-setting fashion writer Andrรฉ Leon Talley; and Sara Driver’s BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat on the formative years of the acclaimed artist.
TIFF Docs upholds its tradition of featuring films and filmmakers from around the world with films such as Violeta Ayala’s Cocaine Prison on the drug trade in Bolivia; Mila Turajliฤ’s The Other Side of Everything on the dissident activism of her Serbian mother; Hรผseyin Tabak’s The Legend of the Ugly King on the Kurdish filmmaker Yilmaz Gรผney; Sabiha Sumar’s Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent on the politics of India and Pakistan; and Gustavo Salmerรณn’s Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle on his eccentric family in Spain. The TIFF Docs closing film is Emmanuel Gras’ Makala, which won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes’ Critics Week and portrays the heroic struggles of a subsistence laborer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival® runs September 7-17, 2017.
Films screening as part of the TIFF Docs program include:
Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent Sabiha Sumar, Pakistan
North American Premiere
BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat Sara Driver, USA
World Premiere
The China Hustle Jed Rothstein, USA
World Premiere
Cocaine Prison Violeta Ayala, Australia/Bolivia/France/USA
World Premiere
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars Lili Fini Zanuck, United Kingdom
World Premiere
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library Frederick Wiseman, USA
North American Premiere
The Final Year Greg Barker, USA
World Premiere
The Gospel According to Andrรฉ Kate Novack, USA
World Premiere
Documentary Program Opening Film.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami Sophie Fiennes, United Kingdom/Ireland
World Premiere
JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond – the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton Chris Smith, USA/Canada
North American Premiere
Jane Brett Morgen, USA
World Premiere
The Judge Erika Cohn, Palestine/USA
World Premiere
The Legend of the Ugly King Hรผseyin Tabak, Germany/Austria
World Premiere
Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Gustavo Salmerรณn, Spain
North American Premiere
Love Means Zero Jason Kohn, USA
World Premiere
Documentary Program Closing Film.
Makala Emmanuel Gras, France
North American Premiere
OF SHEEP AND MEN Karim Sayad, Switzerland/Qatar
World Premiere
One of Us Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, USA
World Premiere
The Other Side of Everything Mila Turajliฤ, Serbia/France/Qatar
World Premiere
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me Sam Pollard, USA
World Premiere
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood Matt Tyrnauer, USA
World Premiere
Silas Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman, Canada/South Africa/Kenya
World Premiere
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Morgan Spurlock, USA
World Premiere
Canadian documentaries to be announced on August 9.
