TIFF documentaries to focus on larger-than-life figures from various fields

The dates for the documentary films were announced recently.

TIFF will be focusing on figures eminent from the fields of politics, sports, entertainment and fashion.

The Toronto International Film Festival’s 2017 documentary programme will present a distinct collection of works from award-winning directors with an increased number of World Premieres and potential awards contenders.

The TIFF Documentary section will open with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, a film that captures the legendary performer on and off stage.

Apart from Fiennes, the documentary line up feature filmmakers like Morgan Spurlock, Brett Morgen, Greg Barker, Frederick Wiseman and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.

While Spurlock would reignite his battle with the food industry in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, Morgen is set to portray primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane.

Barker will bring President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team in The Final Year to the viewers. On the other hand, Wiseman, will take the viewers behind the scenes of a New York institution in Ex Libris - The New York Public Library.

However, Ewing and Grady will bring Hasidic Jews who attempt to enter the secular world in One of Us.

The TIFF Documentary Programme is sponsored by A+E IndieFilms.

TIFF Documentary Programmer Thom Powers said: "Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries. 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 will be dominant in films like Jed Rothstein’s The China Hustle, which confronts a new era of Wall Street fraud; Matt Tyrnauer’s Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, that profiles the sexual taboo breaker Scotty Bowers; Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman’s Silas, portraying 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.

The list of films which will certainly bring eminent figures in diverse fields like entertainment and sports include Chris Smith’s JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond - the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a 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 investigates the controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and his history with Andre Agassi.

Several other films which will engage viewers with black cultural figures include 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 André on the trend-setting fashion writer André 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.

The TIFF will close with the film Emmanuel Gras’ Makala which won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes’ Critics Week. The film portrays the heroic struggles of a subsistence labourer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to begin from September 7 and will continue for 11 days.

Films screening as part of the TIFF Docs programme:

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 André, Kate Novack, USA
World Premiere

Documentary Programme 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