Screen International previews the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery and TIFF Docs strand. TIFF runs September 10-20.
Twenty-one films, including 18 world premieres, make up this year’s TIFF Docs selection. Two-thirds of the titles are from the US or Canada — with 20 territories represented overall — and more than three quarters of the world premieres come from women filmmakers.
Among the latter group are section opener Rapinoe (sold by UTA Independent), a UK-US portrait of American soccer star Megan Rapinoe from New York-based Rebeca Huntt (whose Beba was at TIFF in 2021), and Edward Said: Between Worlds (Dogwoof), an exploration of the Palestinian activist’s legacy by Danish American producer and director Maiken Baird.
Also in the group are Re/Pair (Gersh), Lacey Schwartz Delgado’s film examining the bonds and tensions between the US’s Black and Jewish communities, and Cheyenne, Taimi Arvidson’s doc about cowgirls on the rodeo circuit after nearly a century of exclusion.
World premieres from, or set in, countries outside North America include Low Lies The Land (Dogwoof), Emanuele Gerosa’s look at three Italian wine-making families facing uncertain futures; Like Magic, Colombian filmmaker Melissa Saavedra Gil’s personal reaction to childhood tragedy; Tehran, Under The Skin (CAT&Docs) in which Afsaneh Salari explores body image with Iranian plastic surgery clients; and The Ultra Runner (Eyesteelfilm Distribution) from Canada’s Mila Aung-Thwin, about a Romanian who turns his life around by becoming an Arctic endurance runner.
Several section entries tackle topical subjects. Danish director and author Sine Plambech, whose Heartbound screened at TIFF in 2018, follows a migrant Yemeni family separated during a Mediterranean crossing in Rescue. Black Sunflowers, from US filmmaker James Marcus Haney, looks at Ukrainian youth navigating between the Russian war frontline and civilian life. And The Final Act has Quebec’s Sophie Deraspe, whose drama Shepherds won TIFF’s best Canadian feature prize in 2024, tackling medically assisted dying.
Among music-based documentaries in the lineup are Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been (Independent Artist Group), a portrait of the veteran R&B singer from Canada’s Barry Avrich (whose The Road Between Us won the TIFF People’s Choice documentary award last year after being pulled and then reinstated by the festival); Gail (WME Independent), with Michael Maxxis following a superfan of Our Lady Peace on the Canadian band’s 30th anniversary tour; and Bleeding Hearts, Andrew Morgan’s look at the couple at the centre of alt‑country band Chaparelle.
Indigenous artists are the focus of Turtle Island Rap, Canadian Alexandra Lazarowich’s documentary feature debut following three Indigenous hip‑hop performers, and The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs (FiGa Films), Elia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norzi’s film about the discovery by the international art world of Peruvian Amazon painter Sara Flores.
Vietnamese Canadian filmmakers explore their family histories in Ba’s Book (B.in Media), a hybrid documentary from Ashley Duong, and Still Night, Burning House (NFB) from Carol Nguyen, winner of a 2022 TIFF prize for short Nanitic.
The TIFF Docs lineup is completed by three entries having their North American premieres in Toronto after debuts at Venice: Musk (Black Bear), Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour film about controversial billionaire Elon Musk; The Pervert’s Guide To Utopias in which UK director Sophie Fiennes completes her trilogy featuring Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek; and Union Town (Autlook Filmsales) from veteran US director Barbara Kopple, which completes her trilogy about labour, a project that began with 1977 Oscar winner Harlan County, USA.
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