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The Toronto Intl. Film Festival’s Docs program gets underway Sept. 8 and will feature 22 nonfiction films — a hefty 57 increase from last year’s lineup, which was cut back to 14 due to Covid.

Notable titles include Oscar winner Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” which is pictured above and making its Canadian premiere following a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival; “Blackfish” director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s latest docu “The Grab” and veteran filmmaker’s Werner Herzog’s “Theatre of Thought.”

Sacha Jenkins’s “Armstrong’s Black & Blues” will serve as TIFF Docs’ opening film.

Thom Powers, lead TIFF documentary programmer, winnowed the list of 22 from 700 submissions. While constructing this year’s program, Powers noticed various themes emerge across submissions, one being being the act of resistance.

“Cowperthwaite’s “The Grab,” which she has been making for seven years under a lot of secrecy, follows journalist Nathan Halverson as...

New films from Werner Herzog, Laura Poitras, Cristian Mungiu and Jerzy Skolimowski have been added to the lineup of the 2022 Toronto International film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Wednesday.

The new films are in the TIFF Docs and Contemporary World Cinema sections and together will make up almost 75 additions to the lineup of the festival, which will run from Sept. 8-18.

The TIFF Docs section will open with the world premiere of Sacha Jenkins’ “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues.” Other films in the section include Herzog’s “Theatre of Thought,” which examines new research into the brain; Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” about artist Nan Goldin and her campaign to get museums to reject the patronage of the Purdue Pharma-owning Sackler family; and “In Her Hands,” Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen’s film about Zarifa Ghafari, the youngest woman mayor in Afghanistan as the Taliban returned to power in that country.

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The Toronto Film Festival has announced new titles for its TIFF Docs and Contemporary World Cinema sections.

The TIFF Docs section will open with the previously announced Sacha Jenkins’ Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, and there’s a North American premiere for Laura Poitras’ opioid epidemic doc All the Beauty and the Bloodshed from Participant.

The festival will also feature newly-added world bows for Cine-Guerrilas: Scenes from the Labudovic Reels, by director Mila Rurajlic; Documentary Now!, by Alex Buono, Rhys Thomas and Micah Gardner; Sam Soko and Lauren DeFilippo’s Free Money, about a Kenyan village being given a universal basic income by an American organization; The Grab, from Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite; and Stephanie Johnes’ Maya and the Wave.

Other documentary first looks headed to Toronto include Mark Fletcher’s Patrick and the Whale; Sinead O’Shea’s Pray for our Sinners; Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot,...

Includes new work from Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Werner Herzog and Klaus Hӓrӧ.

New work from Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Werner Herzog and Klaus Hӓrӧ are among TIFF Docs and Contemporary World Cinema line-ups announced on Wednesday (August 17).

In TIFF Docs, Cowperthwaite’s The Grab exposes the systematic acquisition of food and water resources by international governments and private companies. Herzog returns to the fray with Theatre Of Thought, in which he explores the cutting edge of brain research.

The selection includes Mark Fletcher’s nature documentary Patrick And The Whale (pictured) and opens with Sacha Jenkins’ Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues.

Documentary Now! is back on IFC and it is set to premiere Season 53 on Wednesday, October 19 at 10 p.m. Et with two new episodes. The titles of the two-part season premiere are “Soldier of Illusion,” written by John Mulaney, and “Trouver Frisson,” which plays tribute to the Agnès Varda films.

Alexander Skarsgard (Big Little Lies), Nicholas Braun (Succession), and August Diehl (Inglorious Bastards) star in the premiere episode titled “Soldier of Illusion,” which was inspired by the Werner Herzog-focused documentary Burden of Dreams. Skarsgard plays a visionary German filmmaker in the 1980s who tries to will his magnum opus into existence while working in the remote, punishing conditions of the Russian Ular mountains.

Deb Hiett returns as narrator in the episode that also stars Kevin Bishop (The Tracey Ullman Show), Gana Bayarsaikhan (Wonder Woman), Matthias Rimpler (Ludzie i Bogowie), and Fred Armisen (SNL).

The second episode of the premiere...

Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun, French actor Liliane Rovère and others have joined the cast for Season 53 of “Documentary Now!,” IFC announced Friday. The channel also released a first look teaser as well as final details for two new episodes to round out the season.

Known for paying homage to the world of documentaries, “Documentary Now!” Season 53 will debut with on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 10 p.m. on IFC and on AMC+ the same day. New episodes will debut weekly on Wednesdays.

The two-part season premiere episode “Soldier of Illusion,” written by John Mulaney and starring Skarsgård, Braun and August Diehl, was inspired by the Werner Herzog-focused documentary “Burden of Dreams.” Set in the early 1980s, the episode follows a visionary German filmmaker (Skarsgård) as he tries to will his magnum opus into existence while working in the remote, punishing conditions of the Russian Ular mountains. Kevin Bishop, Gana Bayarsaikhan, Matthias Rimpler,...

Taran Killam as Benedict A. Juniper, John Mulaney as Simon Sawyer – Documentary Now! _ Season 3, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Rhys Thomas/IFC IFC today released a first look teaser and final details from the highly anticipated 53rd season of Documentary Now!. The two-part season premiere episode, “Soldier of Illusion,” written by John Mulaney, and “Trouver Frisson,” paying tribute to the films of Agnes Varda, join previously announced episodes “Two Hairdressers in Bagglyport,” “How They Threw Rocks” and “My Monkey Grifter” to round out the season. Known for lovingly paying homage to the world of documentaries, Documentary Now! Season 53 will debut with a two-episode premiere on Wednesday, October 19 at 10 Pm on IFC, and on AMC+ the same day. New episodes to debut weekly on Wednesdays. The upcoming season of the critically acclaimed comedy, co-created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Rhys Thomas, executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video,...

IFC on Friday released a first look teaser of the 4th season of “Documentary Now!” — or in the show’s parody universe, the 53rd season — which finds Alexander Skarsgård as a Werner Herzog-inspired filmmaker slogging through the Russian mountains in the two-part season that premieres on IFC and AMC+ on October 9.

Skarsgård is joined by “Succession” star Nicholas Braun and August Diehl of “Inglourious Basterds” in the John Mulaney-penned ode to Herzog’s “Burden of Dreams.” Kevin Bishop, Gana Bayarsaikhan, Matthias Rimpler, and, series co-creator Fred Armisen will also star.

The new season also spoofs beloved late director Agnès Varda in “Trouver Frisson,” in which French actor Liliane Rovère stars as filmmaker Ida Leos, who is searching for “frisson,” the goosebumps that have always been her guide. Written by series producers Matt Pacult and Tamsin Rawady and co-directed by Micah Gardner, the episode also stars “Documentary Now!” alumni Gary Kraus.