TIFF - Documentary line-up announced

The Toronto International Film Festival today announced the list of documentaries they’ll screen in September. TIFF always has a fascinating array of documentaries – no matter what your interests. It’s worth checking out, especially since you may not get a chance to see some of these movies anywhere else.

This year’s line-up is filled with discoveries, controversies and revelations. The topics covered in the documentaries this year are varied – everything from issues in the Middle East to disco dancers. There are also many world premieres. So while we’ve got many good movies to choose from, here at Gossip Dish I’ve highlighted just a small sample of what you can see at TIFF. Hopefully, this makes choosing what to see a bit easier:

Movies about high-profile figures:

Reincarnated – Legendary hip-hop star and America’s ultimate gangsta Snoop Dogg travels to Jamaica to record a new album and to seek a more spiritual path. Directed by Andrew Capper.

Roman Polanski – Odd Man Out – Marina Zenovich’s follow-up to Wanted and Desired, this movie explores director Roman Polanski‘s 10-month imprisonment following his arrest at the Zurich Film Festival in 2009. The film explores the bizarre clash of politics, celebrity, justice and the media.

Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky – Barry Avrich recounts the life of Garth Drabinsky – an infamous mogul whose uprecedented rise and fall from power is one of the most dramatic stories in show business history.

Hot Button Topics:

The Gatekeepers – For the first time ever, six former heads of Shin Bet (Israel’s secret service agency) agree to share their insights and reflect publicly on actions and decisions made during Israel’s war on terror. Directed by Dror Moreh.

How to Make Money Selling Drugs – A provocative glimpse into the lives of those on both sides of the “war on drugs,” viewed through interviews with 50 Cent, Eminem, The Wire producer David Simon, Arianna Huffington, Woody Harrelson, Susan Sarandon and infamous drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross.

State 194 – In 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad launched a plan to demonstrate that his people were deserving of statehood. Since then, they’ve made remarkable progress, but the political quagmire threatens to destroy the most promising opportunity for peace in years. From Participant Media, the company behind An Inconvenient Truth

World Premieres:

9:79* – Daniel Gordon’s look at the infamous 100-metre men’s final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics when gold medalist Ben Johnson tested positive for anabolic steroids and scandal reigned. The eight athletes who ran that infamous race tell their story for the first time.

The Central Park Five – Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns sheds light on a case of wrongful conviction when five black and Latino teenagers were wrongly convicted of raping the Central Park Jogger and how a rush to judgment by the police, media clamoring for sensational stories, and an outraged public contributed to that miscarriage of justice.

London – The Modern Babylon – Legendary director Julien Temple’s epic time-travelling voyage to the heart of his hometown. He shows how musicians, writers, artists, dangerous thinkers, political radicals and ordinary people changed the city forever.

The Toronto International Film Festival is the leading public film festival in the world, screening more than 300 films from 60+ countries. It runs from September 6-12, 2012. To order tickets, please vsit their official site.

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