{"id":226211,"date":"2019-08-08T22:12:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T02:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=226211"},"modified":"2019-08-08T22:12:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T02:12:32","slug":"films-from-leonardo-dicaprio-drake-among-documentaries-headed-to-tiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/08\/films-from-leonardo-dicaprio-drake-among-documentaries-headed-to-tiff\/","title":{"rendered":"Films from Leonardo DiCaprio, Drake among documentaries headed to TIFF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Festival organizers said Thursday that the 25 films chosen for this year’s non-fiction slate include \u201cAnd We Go Green,\u201d produced by DiCaprio and directed by Fisher Stevens and Malcolm Venville; and \u201cBikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator,\u201d directed by Eva Orner. (File Photo By Christopher William Adach from Mexico – WP – random_-26, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 A documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio about electric car racing, a look at a controversial yoga teacher dogged by sexual misconduct claims, and a Drake-backed feature about immigrants who served in the U.S. military only to be deported, are headed to the Toronto International Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Festival organizers said Thursday that the 25 films chosen for this year’s non-fiction slate include \u201cAnd We Go Green,\u201d produced by DiCaprio and directed by Fisher Stevens and Malcolm Venville; and \u201cBikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator,\u201d directed by Eva Orner.<\/p>\n

Drake’s project, \u201cReady for War,\u201d is executive-produced by the Toronto rapper along with Future and David Ayer, and directed by Andrew Renzi. A TIFF publicist says the production is bound for the U.S. broadcaster Showtime but there’s no word yet on a Canadian outlet.<\/p>\n

Documentary programmer Thom Powers said this year’s collection tackles themes including artistic achievement, immigration, environmentalism, and resistance against corrupt leaders. It also touches on several high-profile figures including Truman Capote, Merce Cunningham, and Imelda Marcos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year’s program captures characters you’ll never forget: lovers, fighters, dancers, athletes, despots, rebels, hustlers, and heroes,\u201d Powers said in a release.<\/p>\n

The section will open with \u201cThe Cave\u201d from Oscar-nominated director Feras Fayyad, about an underground hospital in war-torn Syria.<\/p>\n

Lighter fare includes Bryce Dallas Howard’s documentary debut, \u201cDads,\u201d about fatherhood \u2014 featuring her own famous dad, Ron Howard \u2014 and Gabe Polsky’s \u201cRed Penguins,\u201d billed as a comic tale about U.S. hustlers bringing NHL-style hockey to Moscow.<\/p>\n

Programmers also announced the 10-film lineup in the Midnight Madness section, typically dedicated to horror, off-beat comedy and quirky genre fare.<\/p>\n

They include an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s \u201cColor Out of Space,\u201d directed by Richard Stanley and starring Nicolas Cage; and Joko Anwar’s \u201cGundala,\u201d based on Indonesian superhero comic books.<\/p>\n

The late-night slot will open with Jeff Barnaby’s previously-announced Indigenous zombie film \u201cBlood Quantum\u201d and closes with Isaac Nabwana’s \u201cCrazy World,\u201d billed as \u201cgonzo action flick\u201d and a celebration of the Ugandan film movement Wakaliwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year’s selections challenge the traditional parameters of genre and shock cinema, but \u2014 most excitingly \u2014 half of the lineup’s wicked provocations are courtesy of filmmakers making their feature-film debut,\u201d lead programmer Peter Kuplowsky said Thursday in a release.<\/p>\n

First-timers include Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s dystopian sci-fi film \u201cThe Platform,\u201d Rose Glass’s psychological thriller \u201cSaint Maud,\u201d and Andrew Patterson’s paranormal period piece \u201cThe Vast of Night,\u201d which won the audience award for best narrative feature at Slamdance.<\/p>\n

Other documentary picks include: Alan Berliner’s \u201cLetter to the Editor,\u201d about photojournalism; Barbara Kopple’s \u201cDesert One,\u201d chronicling a mission to rescue hostages in Iran; Thomas Balmes’ \u201cSing Me A Song,\u201d about a monk in Bhutan who forms a long-distance relationship via his smart phone and Alex Gibney’s \u201cCitizen K,\u201d which profiles Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who turned against Russian president Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the revamped Discovery program will open with Chiara Malta’s \u201cSimple Women,\u201d in which a director meets Elina Lowensohn, an actor she idolized in her youth.<\/p>\n

Described as \u201ca place to find work that could be poetic, bold, or challenging,\u201d TIFF says its Discovery section has helped launch the international careers of acclaimed directors including Yorgos Lanthimos, Maren Ade, Alfonso Cuaron, Barry Jenkins and Jean-Marc Vallee.<\/p>\n

The Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 5 to 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 A documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio about electric car racing, a look at a controversial yoga teacher dogged …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":221287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-cassandra-szklarski","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226213,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226211\/revisions\/226213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}