The Best Documentary Race Takes Shape With "TIFF Docs" Announcement
By Josh Tarpley
With the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) fast approaching its September 7 start date, more and more movies have been announced for the gathering. Though the bulk of dramatic films were announced last week (see the list here), more movies have been announced as part of their highly anticipated documentary lineup.
Click beyond the jump to learn about new documentaries directors of "Super Size Me" and "Jesus Camp."
​Whether it be "Darkest Hour," "Battle of the Sexes," "Mudbound," "Suburbicon," "The Shape of Water" or "Call Me By Your Name," Oscar watchers will be glued to social media during TIFF. Every year these festivals help shape what the awards race looks like and this year's TIFF lineup confirms our expectations should be high for the festival. Of course we will be looking for what films will be frontrunners in the Oscar race, but today's announcement gives us some key insight into what the Best Documentary Feature race might look like.
Morgan Spurlock will be debuting "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!," a film that will see the famed director open his own fast food restaurant and explore the negative cost of industrializing the food industry the way we have. The programmer of TIFF Docs, Thom Powers, said the "Super Size Me" sequel will attack the topic from a new angle, "Morgan comes at it in a different way. He brings humor and a populist appeal to the subject matter that's different from the scary approaches we often see in documentaries."
The other high profile doc coming to TIFF will be "One of Us." Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady showed their documentary prowess with 2006's "Jesus Camp." That film showed (exposed?) a section of the Evangelical movement and the dangers that come with it, "One of Us" will follow three subjects as they leave the insular Hasidic Jewish community in New York. The filmmakers released a joint statement about what to expect from the movie, "Our main subjects may be leaving the intense strictures of the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, but they're also grappling with a universal human dilemma: that the cost of freedom can also mean losing the only community they've ever known."
"One of Us" will receive an awards push before hitting Netflix this Fall.
What do you all think, will TIFF help shape the Best Documentary race this year? Are you looking forward to either of these docs? Let us know in the comments below!
You can follow Josh and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @JoshTarpley7