Ex-GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a prominent critic of Donald Trump, will get a major platform at the Toronto International Film Festival just weeks before the U.S. presidential election.
TIFF announced its full documentary lineup this morning and among the standouts is The Last Republican, about Kinzinger’s vigorous repudiation of the former president after the January 6 insurrection. It’s a world premiere at TIFF, directed by Steve Pink – best known for the comedy Hot Tub Time Machine.
“That’s probably not a director you expect to see in TIFF docs,” admits Thom Powers, the festival’s chief documentary programmer. “Kinzinger served on the January 6th Congressional Committee alongside Liz Cheney, chose not to run again as a congressman because he could see the political writing on the wall. But he chooses to give access to a Hollywood left winger in Steve Pink to tell his story. And why does he let Steve Pink tell his story? Because Adam Kinzinger is a big fan of Hot Tub Time Machine.”
Fans of documentary will have a lot to choose from in the TIFF documentary lineup – potential awards contenders, films from around the globe, celebrity-oriented docs, and, like The Last Republican, stories with political dimensions. Another film that falls into the latter category is Men at War, directed by Jen Gatien and Billy Corben (Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami). [Scroll for the complete list of documentaries announced today]
The main focus of Men at War – former U.S. Green Beret turned mercenary Jordan Goudreau – was arrested in New York last week on charges related to what has been called a “disastrous failed coup attempt” in Venezuela in 2020 that was intended to topple strongman Nicolás Maduro.
“That was a totally botched operation,” Powers says of the coup plot. “This film is kind of like Rambo meets Fyre Fest, and it is perfect subject matter for Billy Corben with his background in Cocaine Cowboys of capturing a shadow world of Miami characters that Jordan Goudreau belonged to.”
Powers adds, “Jordan Goudreau speaks in the film about contacts he had with people in the Trump administration who he says were giving him a green light and encouragement to stage this coup in Venezuela. There’s a long history of American mercenaries mucking around south of the border, certainly in the 1980s under Reagan, and of course going back to the Bay of Pigs under Kennedy. And in that shadow world, it’s very hard to know or trust what people say. And this is one of those stories.”
The TIFF lineup boasts documentaries set in Sudan, the West Bank, Mexico, South Korea, Canada, the U.S. and other locations around the world. Several titles relate to the war in Ukraine, including Russians at War, a documentary directed by Anastasia Trofimova that premieres at the Venice Film Festival before heading to Toronto, and Temporary Shelter, a TIFF world premiere. Temporary Shelter is directed by Anastasiia Bortuali, who like millions of her fellow Ukrainians had to flee her country after the full-scale Russian invasion.
“She’s documenting the community of refugees of Ukrainian refugees in Iceland that she lives among,” Powers explains. “And this film really shows both the vulnerability of what it means to be displaced and following a war back in your home country from afar, but also the resilience that people find.”
‘Viktor’
Courtesy of TIFF
As previously announced, director Olivier Sarbil’s Viktor will premiere in TIFF’s Platform competition, a film about the war in Ukraine as seen through the experience of a Deaf man. Darren Aronofsky produces through his Protozoa Pictures production company.
“A fan of samurai films and raised on stories of war, [Viktor] dreams of becoming a warrior but is repeatedly denied when he tries to enlist,” notes a description online. “Eager to find purpose, Viktor embarks on a quest to find his place in the midst of a war he cannot hear.”
From Ireland comes Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story, a documentary by Sinéad O’Shea about the great Irish writer who died on July 27 at the age of 93.
Edna O’Brien in 1964.
Getty Images
“[O’Shea] had met Edna O’Brien 10 years ago and was utterly captivated by her — as seems to be the case with anyone who ever met Edna O’Brien — and finally got access to interview O’Brien sometime last year when O’Brien was in her nineties and knew she didn’t have that much time left,” Powers says. “Every stage of Edna O’Brien’s life, including her final stage… she is utterly mesmerizing as a storyteller, and we see footage of her from over the past five decades of TV interviews she gave, usually with kind of pompous male TV hosts talking down to her. And she had incredible ability to use her quick wits to turn the tables on them… I think this film will be a revelation to many.”
Eddie Huang
Courtesy Eddie Huang
Eddie Huang, the chef and author whose memoir Fresh Off the Boat became the basis for the ABC comedy series, directs the TIFF world premiere Vice Is Broke. That looks at the implosion of Vice Media, which went from a Wall Street darling to moribund property in federal bankruptcy court. Huang knows whereof he directs – he hosted the travel series Huang’s World on Vice.
“He was friends with Shane Smith, one of the Vice co-founders. So, he is really telling an inside [story] of what happened to Vice,” Powers says. “You saw that company shoot up in valuation to $5.7 billion and moguls like Rupert Murdoch and David Zaslav courting Vice because they thought that it somehow had the secret to delivering a youth audience. Eddie Huang is unpacking all of that and more. He interviews a lot of former Vice contributors and one of the pleasures of this film is really seeing who did the work that made that company distinct versus who took the credit for their work. And Eddie Huang is not afraid to name names on either side of that ledger. This film has a kind of outlaw style that Vice patented. It’s funny, but it’s also poignant as people who lived through those times try to dissect the good and bad and ugly of the company.”
TIFF runs from September 5-15. Deadline will be on hand interviewing the most notable filmmakers in our studio, so keep an eye out for our coverage.
Below is the list of documentaries announced today. As TIFF notes, the titles “join a number of documentaries already announced for TIFF ’24 as part of the Gala program, including the World Premieres of Elton John: Never Too Late, Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, and the Canadian premiere of Will & Harper; as well as non-fiction works previously announced for the Platform competition, The Wolves Always Come at Night, which blends observed moments and recreated scenes, and Viktor; and for Centerpiece, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara.
2024 TIFF Docs Programme (in alphabetical order):
A Sisters’ Tale Leila Amini | Switzerland/France/Iran International Premiere
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Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story Sinéad O’Shea | Ireland/United Kingdom World Premiere
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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found Raoul Peck | France North American Premiere
From Ground Zero Wissam Moussa, Nidal Damo, Ahmed Hassouna, Alaa Ayoub, Karim Satoum, Bashar Al Babisi, Khamis Masharawi, Nida’A Abu Hasna, Tamer Nijim, Ahmed Al Danaf, Rima Mahmoud, Muhammad Al Sharif, Basil El Maqousi, Mustafa Al Nabih, Rabab Khamis, Mustafa Kulab, Alaa Damo, Hana Eleiwa, Mahdi Kreirah, Aws Al Banna, Islam Al Zeriei, Etimad Washah | Palestine/France/Qatar/Jordan
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Living Together Halima Elkhatabi | Canada World Premiere
Men of War Jen Gatien, Billy Corben | USA/Canada World Premiere
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Mistress Dispeller Elizabeth Lo | China/USA North American Premiere
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No Other Land Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor | Palestine/Norway Canadian Premiere
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Patrice: The Movie Ted Passon | USA
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Russians at War Anastasia Trofimova | Canada/France North American Premiere
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So Surreal: Behind the Masks Neil Diamond, Joanne Robertson | Canada World Premiere
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Space Cowboy Marah Strauch, Bryce Leavitt | USA World Premiere
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Sudan, remember us Hind Meddeb | France/Tunisia/Qatar North American Premiere
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Tata Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc | Romania/Germany/Netherlands World Premiere
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Temporary Shelter Anastasiia Bortuali | Iceland World Premiere
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The Freedom of Fierro Santiago Esteinou | Mexico/Canada/Greece World Premiere
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The Last of the Sea Women Sue Kim | USA World Premiere
The Last Republican Steve Pink | USA World Premiere
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Vice is Broke Eddie Huang | USA World Premiere
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Wishing on a Star Peter Kerekes | Italy/Slovakia/Czech Republic/Austria/Croatia North American Premiere
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Your Tomorrow Ali Weinstein | Canada World Premiere
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