Black Ice from Oscar nominee Hubert Davis (Giants of Africa) leads the documentaries announced today for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film will get the red carpet treatment screening among the Galas at this year’s festival. Black Ice is a study of anti-Black racism in sport and the disparity in access and opportunity in Canada’s game. The film will be released by Elevation Pictures following its festival run.
Also getting the Gala treatment among the TIFF documentaries is Sidney, Reginald Hudlin’s portrait of late Oscar winning actor Sidney Poitier. Sidney, like Black Ice, will have its world premiere at Toronto. The film is distributed by AppleTV+.
TIFF also announced three documentaries in the Special Presentations line-up. Brett Morgen’s IMAX David Bowie doc Moonage Daydream will see its North American premiere at the festival following its debut at Cannes in May. Ryan White (Ask Dr. Ruth) will bring his latest doc Good Night Oppy to the festival and take audiences to Mars with his study of the rover Opportunity and its trek across the Red Planet. Finally, The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile, directed by Kathlyn Horan, takes audiences on a journey with singer Brandi Carlile as she gets country star Tanya Tucker back in the recording studio after 17 years. The full slate of documentaries will be released with the Canadian programming and TIFF Docs announcements in August.
Other films in TIFF’s impressive line-up include the international premiere of Sarah Polley’s Women Talking. The American film is an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ book about women in a Mennonite community summoning their courage to defend themselves following rampant sexual abuse. Also tapped is the world premiere of Red Penguins director Gabe Polsky’s dramatic feature Butcher’s Crossing starring Nicolas Cage, Shekhar Kapur’s documentary-driven comedy What’s Love Got to Do with It? starring Lily James, Shazad Latif, and Emma Thompson, and the North American premiere of Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness.
The festival announced 18 Galas and 45 Special Presentations today following a slow roll-out of titles on social media leading up to the big release. Among the previously announced titles are Sally El Hosaini’s Syrian refugee drama The Swimmers, which will open the Festival’s Gala line-up, Clement Virgo’s Scarborough-set drama Brother, Nicholas Stoller and Billy Eichner’s gay rom-com Bros, and the world premiere of Steven Spielberg’s personal drama The Fablemans. TIFF runs Sept. 8 to 18.
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