indieWIRE’s Peter Knegt reports on a few new developments on the documentary side of things at the upcoming Toronto fest, chief of which is the addition of a further five titles to the feature doc lineup.
Three of the five will be having their world premiere at Toronto, including Bob Richman’s “Ahead of Time,” a study of the life of venerable Brooklyn-born intellectural Ruth Gruber, and Icelandic production “The Sunshine Boy,” which details a mother’s coming to terms with her son’s autism.
The film, however, that I suspect most eyes will be on is “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” the directorial debut from esteemed, Oscar-nominated Disney producer Don Hahn (“The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast”), which covers a section of recent cinematic history held dear by many:
This isn’t a fairy tale, but rather the true story of how the Disney animation team went from stagnation in the mid-1980s to a startling rebirth with a staggering output of hits – Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and more – over a ten year period. Director Don Hahn, who was a key contributor on many of these works, brings an insider’s perspective to the film.
As someone who grew up through that period and delighted in its output (“The Little Mermaid” is, was and probably always will be my personal favorite Disney title), that’s a film I’m genuinely interested in seeing. In a year that has seen the animated form afforded more critical cred than usual, I doubt I’m the only one.
Knegt also reports that the festival has established a day-long Doc Conference “devoted to the specific challenges and opportunities for documentary financing, distribution and ethics.” More details here.
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6 responses to “Five new docs added to Toronto slate”
Hey, Mermaid is my favorite too, even though I concede that Beauty & the Beast is slightly better. It and Spirited Away (my #3 of the decade) are my favorite animated films.
The first two mentioned are the first movies I ever loved, watching them more or less every day when I was a kid. So now I’m looking forward to two docs – the other being The September Issue.
I think Mermaid is the best of them too…although right now it’s losing the poll I’m doing at my blog
Beauty and the Beast is best, but they’ve never made a bad film, imo. Or, few bad ones, at least.
Beauty and the Beast, simply brilliant, and I play the beast on tour
You guys have to read the book Disney War. It covers the history of Disney’s boardroom and this period in much depth. Very fascinating.
So 11 clips from the film are on Cinemablend. Seems pretty boring. Oh well, I have four Disney fairy tales to look forward to in the next four years – Princess & Frog, Rapunzel, Bear & the Bow, King of the Elves.
As for September Issue, which opened wider today (100-something theatres), from the clips I’ve seen online, I just mildly want to see it. I was considering going since it’s playing just 3 miles away, but eh. I think mostly I wanted to see Wintour and hoped she’d be as entertaining as Miranda Priestley.