TIFF Docs Programmer Previews Toronto Festival Lineup
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- Thom Powers, TIFF Docs programmer, previewed the festival's documentary lineup on Deadline's Doc Talk podcast ahead of the 51st Toronto Film Festival.
- The slate features Alex Gibney's anticipated film on Elon Musk and Barbara Kopple's examination of New York City's union movement, where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — who built his mayoral campaign on labor rights — now serves as chief.
- World premiere The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs (directed by Èlia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norz) profiles Indigenous artist Sara Flores, who became a sensation in her 70s traveling from her home in the Peruvian Amazon to galleries worldwide.
- Tehran, Under the Skin (directed by Afsaneh Salari) explores contemporary Iranian society, while Edward Said: Between Worlds arrives at a time when conflict and bloodshed in Palestine, Israel, and the broader Middle East dominate the news cycle.
- Rapinoe (directed by Rebeca Huntt) and Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been (directed by Barry Avrich, who stirred controversy last year when a TIFF film was disinvited then reinvited) also feature as must-sees.
- World premieres Low Lies the Land and Rescue round out Powers' TIFF Docs recommendations.
- The podcast is hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Matt Carey, Deadline's senior documentary editor, and is a production of Deadline and Ridley's Nō Studios.
Why it matters: TIFF's documentary slate is one of the year's most influential launchpads for awards-season nonfiction films, with multiple world premieres from two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple and Oscar winner Alex Gibney. The selection of politically charged titles — including a film on Palestinian scholar Edward Said arriving amid Middle East conflict and Kopple's documentary foregrounding democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — signals the festival is leaning into topical, contested subjects rather than purely celebrity profiles.
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