An Australian true crime saga leads the documentary side of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Primetime series. Directed by Darren Dale, 2.6 Seconds: Death in the Outback marks the lone documentary in the festival’s episodic slate. The series is described as “a gripping cinematic documentary series that reconstructs one of Australia’s defining contemporary events, exposing the enduring legacies of race, justice, and colonial policing.” The doc has its world premiere at TIFF.
Dale is a Bundjalung filmmaker and the documentary explores the legacy of violence against Indigenous persons that continues today. Dale previously produced the dramatic series Total Control, which screened at the 2019 festival. His documentary credits include producing the features The Tall Man (2011), In My Own Words (2017) and the doc series The Idea of Australia (2025).
TIFF’s Primetime slate offers 10 selections as it continues its effort to grow space for episodic works within a film festival. The Canadian dramatic side includes new series with Heated Rivalry breakouts Hudson Williams and François Arnaud in the stage adaptation Yaga and the French-Canadian co-production Alice, respectively. Other series include the international premiere of season six of the spy drama Slow Horses with Gary Oldman and American Hostage starring Mad Men’s Jon Hamm.
The Primetime titles complete the first wave of programming announcements following the releases of the Galas and Special Presentations, Discovery, and Platform line-ups. Red carpet docs include Run Terry Run and Everest: The Other Side, while TIFF’s competitive slate again gives docs the cold shoulder.
The line-up for TIFF Docs will be out on August 5. Today the Venice Film Festival announced its line-up, which boasts Alex Gibney’s Musk and part two of Julia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends series, along with new docs by Barbara Kopple, Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller, and Robert Greene, all of which could show up in Toronto. TIFF runs Sept. 10 to 20.
