TIFF Launches Season’s Top Nonfiction, with New Docs from R.J. Cutler, Raoul Peck, and More

This year’s slate of 21 documentaries from 24 countries at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 5 – 15) is a melange of newsy subjects, rising directors, and potential Oscar contenders. Sixteen are sales titles, up from last year’s eight. Two high-profile celebrity docs are playing in the gala section of the fest, R. J. Cutler’s “Elton John: Never Too Late” and Thom Zimmy’s “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.”

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The TIFF Documentary Selection will open with “Vice Is Broke,” in which “Huang’s World” journalist Eddie Huang investigates his former employer’s rise and fall into bankruptcy. “It’s an insider’s look at a media company that gave many people opportunities and did things in sloppy ways,” TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers told IndieWire via Zoom. “It soared up to a value of $5.7 billion and won the attention of moguls like David Zaslav and Rupert Murdoch. It had young people working there who helped to make it a sensation; it had other people there who took the credit for things that they didn’t do. And so Eddie Huang is unpacking the good, the bad and the ugly of this company.”

“Documentaries often reflect the times we live in,” said Powers. “The subjects of the films are still making headlines even as we’re approaching the festival.”

That includes Neon-produced sales title “Men of War,” co-directed by Billy Corben (“Cocaine Cowboys”), “who has a skill of taking tabloid headlines, filtering them through dark comedy, and pulling out something that has greater meaning for the sociopolitical issues of our time,” said Powers. “Corben and his co-director Jen Gatien are following a former U.S. Green Beret, originally from Canada, named Jordan Goudreau, who was let go from the U.S. military, became what we call a mercenary, and tried to lead this expedition to overthrow the government of Venezuela a couple of years ago. It’s like Rambo meets Fire Fest. It was a botched operation, and Jordan Goudreau, just a few days ago, was finally arrested in the U.S. for arms smuggling in relation to this case.”

Another established director, Oscar nominee Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”), brings his Cannes photographer profile “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” (Magnolia) to North America. Another documentarian profiles the recently deceased Irish writer Edna O’Brien (“The Country Girls”). Director Sinead O’Shea first met O’Brien 10 years ago.

“She was so captivated by her that she felt compelled to make a film,” said Powers. “But she started making the film less than a year ago, acting with a sense of urgency because O’Brien was already in her 90s and not well. Sinead was able to tell O’Brien on her deathbed that the film had gotten into the Toronto Film Festival. The film is going to be a real discovery not only for her work but her incredible life.”

Among the sales titles is “From Ground Zero,” an anthology film of 22 short films made by filmmakers living in Gaza, “giving their individual perspectives of life in Gaza,” said Powers. “The whole work itself is a document. This is a film that will be powerful for people to watch.”

A potential Oscar contender, given the Academy’s growing predilection for international stories, is Apple TV+’s “The Last of the Sea Women” by Korean American filmmaker Sue Kim (Netflix short “Speed Cubers”), which looks at a group of South Korean fisherwomen. “It’s a long tradition of women who are doing free diving without an oxygen tank to collect sea creatures to sell in the market,” said Powers. “This was a thriving culture for generations. It’s now aging out. Most of the women who do it are in their 60s and 70s, so it’s unclear if this tradition has a future.”

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In the running for the Oscar this year is TIFF 2023’s “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhapka Sherpa,” directed by veteran Lucy Walker, which was picked up by Netflix. And in the final five nominees at Oscars 2024 was TIFF title “To Kill a Tiger.”

Heading into the U.S. presidential elections, “The Last Republican,” directed by Steve Pink (“Hot Tub Time Machine”), profiles conservative Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger as he breaks ranks with the GOP to criticize Donald Trump. He served on the January 6 congressional committee. “Steve Pink is a classic Hollywood left-winger making this film about this staunch conservative,” said Powers, “but with humor, they’re able to bridge their ideological divide. And in these highly divisive times, it’s valuable to see anyone being able to talk across ideologies.”

Among the filmmakers on the rise is Elizabeth Lo (“Stray”), whose “Mistress Dispeller” will make its North American premiere after it plays at Venice. Set in China, “Mistress Dispeller” is about “a woman who makes it her job to intervene in marriages where an infidelity is taking place,” said Powers. “We watch this woman do her job with one particular marriage where she lends a sympathetic ear to the husband. She lends a sympathetic ear to his mistress, befriending them both, and then tries to pull them apart and put the husband back together with his wife. Every minute of this film, you can’t believe that people have let a camera into the room, because it’s such sensitive and intimate material.”

For Powers, “Space Cowboy” from Marah Strauch (“Sunshine Superman”) “is one of those films you watch with white knuckles and sweaty palms because the footage is so extraordinary,” he said. “Joe Jennings is a skydiving cinematographer. You’ve seen his work in James Bond movies and ESPN X Games footage, and he is one of the foremost camera people doing skydiving cinematography. The footage in this film of people doing all kinds of aerial tricks is quite breathtaking.”

2024 TIFF Docs Program (in alphabetical order):

“A Sisters’ Tale” Leila Amini | Switzerland/France/Iran International Premiere
Sales Title

“Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story” Sinéad O’Shea | Ireland/United Kingdom World Premiere
Sales Title

“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” Raoul Peck | France North American Premiere

“From Ground Zero” Wissam Moussa, Nidal Damo, Ahmed Hassouna, Alaa Ayoub, Karim Satoum, Bashar Al Babisi, Khamis Masharawi, Nida’A Abu Hasna, Tamer Nijim, Ahmed Al Danaf, Rima Mahmoud, Muhammad Al Sharif, Basil El Maqousi, Mustafa Al Nabih, Rabab Khamis, Mustafa Kulab, Alaa Damo, Hana Eleiwa, Mahdi Kreirah, Aws Al Banna, Islam Al Zeriei, Etimad Washah | Palestine/France/Qatar/Jordan
North American Premiere Sales Title

“Living Together” Halima Elkhatabi | Canada World Premiere

“Men of War” Jen Gatien, Billy Corben | USA/Canada World Premiere
Sales Title

“Mistress Dispeller” Elizabeth Lo | China/USA North American Premiere
Sales Title

“No Other Land” Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor | Palestine/Norway Canadian Premiere
Sales Title

“Patrice: The Movie” Ted Passon | USA
World Premiere

“Russians at War” Anastasia Trofimova | Canada/France North American Premiere
Sales Title

“So Surreal: Behind the Masks” Neil Diamond, Joanne Robertson | Canada World Premiere
Sales Title

“Space Cowboy” Marah Strauch, Bryce Leavitt | USA World Premiere
Sales Title

“Sudan, remember us” Hind Meddeb | France/Tunisia/Qatar North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Tata” Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc | Romania/Germany/Netherlands World Premiere
Sales Title

“Temporary Shelter” Anastasiia Bortuali | Iceland World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Freedom of Fierro” Santiago Esteinou | Mexico/Canada/Greece World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Last of the Sea Women” Sue Kim | USA World Premiere
The Last Republican Steve Pink | USA World Premiere
Sales Title

“Vice is Broke” Eddie Huang | USA World Premiere
Sales Title

“Wishing on a Star” Peter Kerekes | Italy/Slovakia/Czech Republic/Austria/Croatia North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Your Tomorrow” Ali Weinstein | Canada World Premiere
Sales Title