Eddie Huang, creator of ABC Fresh off the boat comedy, is set to open the Toronto Film Festival’s TIFF Docs section with a world premiere for Vice is bankrupta documentary about the rise and fall of Vice Media.
Huang will chronicle the events that led Shane Smith’s Vice Media, a media player once valued at $5.7 billion, to file for bankruptcy protection in 2023 to pave the way for a sale of the company.
There are also global tributes in the Toronto documentary stream for The Blue Road – The Story of Edna O’Briendirected by Sinéad O’Shea, who conducted hours of interviews with the legendary Irish novelist during the last year of O’Brien’s life; Jen Gaiten and Crazy Documentary filmmaker Billy Corben brings Men of war, about a former U.S. Green Beret implicated in a failed 2020 coup to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; and Steve Pink The Last Republicanabout former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who broke ranks and repudiated Donald Trump.
There will also be world premieres for Marah Strauch and Bryce Leavitt Space Cowboy, on the world of acrobatic skydiving and “freefall” cinematography; directors Joanne Robertson and Neil Diamond So Surreal: Behind the Maskswhich highlights efforts to return cultural objects to the Yup’ik and Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw nations; and Halima Elkhatabi Live togethera film that captures apartment seekers in Montreal searching for the ideal roommate.
There will also be world premieres for Ted Passon Patrice: The MovieIt is; That of Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc Tataabout co-director Vdovîi trying to reconnect with her estranged father; Anastasiia Bortuali Temporary shelter, about Ukrainian refugees building new lives in Iceland after the Russian invasion of their home country in 2022; Santiago Esteinou Fierro’s Freedom; The Speed Cubers Director Sue Kim’s latest documentary, The Last of the Sea Womenabout older female freedivers; and Ali Weinstein Your future.
TIFF’s Doc program has registered a total of 21 films from 24 countries, including many for sale. This includes a North American premiere for Raoul Peck’s latest film, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, which won a Cannes award and depicts the life of a pioneering black independent photographer in South Africa. Peck presented the world premiere of his documentary on James Baldwin I’m not your nigger at TIFF in 2016.
Toronto also offers a Canadian first at No other land, directors Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist, and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist, who faced a backlash after their award-winning acceptance speech at the Berlin Film Festival for a documentary about the Israeli government’s attempts to expel Palestinians from the West Bank.
Toronto had earlier announced the presence of documentaries elsewhere in the 2024 event, including RJ Culter and David Furnish. Elton John: It’s never too late; Cosima Spender Andrea Bocelli: Because I believe in it; and that of Thom Zimny…
