Oscar nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck, director R.J. Cutler, and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai headline the documentary slate of the TIFF Industry Conference. The festival announced the events for the business side of TIFF with Peck tapped to join TIFF Docs programmer Thom Powers in a live recording of The Ankler podcast. Peck is at this year’s festival with Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, which won the l’Œil d’Or at Cannes. Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro won the 2016 People’s Choice Award for documentary at TIFF before scoring an Oscar nomination.
Cutler, meanwhile, joins Indiewire’s Anne Thompson and Kate Erbland for a live taping of the Screen Talk podcast. Cutler is at the festival this year with Elton John: Never Too Late, which screens in the Galas line-up. As announced earlier this year, Yousafzai will participate in the Visionaries public talks as part of her festival appearance in support of The Last of the Sea Women, which she produced.
Other documentary focused industry programming includes “The State of the Canadian Documentary Industry” in the Perspectives stream, which offers moderated conversations with filmmakers and industry peers. The Perspectives series will also tackle topics such as the state of film journalism, accessibility, Indigenous perspectives on co-production, and partnerships with African producers.
Two documentary-focused events will appear in the Dialogues stream of moderated conversations. The talks will have speakers debating “Intimacy in Documentary Storytelling” and “Elevating the Artistry in Documentary Filmmaking.” Speakers are to be determined. The Dialogues series includes Winnipeg radicals Guy Maddin and Matthew Rankin; Janicza Bravo, Jordan Tannahill, Malcolm Washington, and Virgil Williams on the art of adaptation; and a discussion presented by Telefilm Canada about the “queer lens” in cinema.
Other sessions let industry attendees connect with decision makers and funders, including a session about accessing financing from Telefilm Canada, and a consideration of AI best practices. The TIFF Industry conference will run Sept. 6 to 10.
