Toronto Film Festival Adds Documentaries From Frederick Wiseman, Errol Morris, Lucy Walker

New films from legendary documentarians Frederick Wiseman and Errol Morris and new work from directors Raoul Peck, Lucy Walker, Roger Ross Williams and Karim Amer will screen at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, which announced its TIFF Docs lineup on Wednesday.

The 93-year-old Wiseman will present the North American premiere of “Menus – Plaisirs Les Troisgros,” a four-hour deep dive into a fabled Michelin-starred restaurant in France. Morris will have the international premiere of “The Pigeon Tunnel,” which is built around a Morris interview with John le Carre that turned out to be the last interview the espionage novelist gave before his death in 2020.

The 22 films announced on Wednesday include 10 world premieres, including Amer’s “Defiant,” Walker’s “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” Peck’s “Silver Dollar Road,” Williams’ “Stamped From the Beginning” and Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’ “Sorry/Not Sorry.” Of the 26 directors represented by those films, 15 are men and 11 are women. More than two-thirds of the titles, 15, are sales titles that will come to TIFF looking for distribution.

When asked by TheWrap about themes and trends that run through this year’s program, TIFF Docs programmer Thom Powers noted the Peck and Williams films, which he said deal with “different forms of Black resistance.”

He also singled out a cluster of docs about women who have been overlooked, including Walker’s film about a dishwasher at a Whole Foods Market in Connecticut who has climbed Mt. Everest more than any other woman; Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s “Copa 71,” an opening-night film about a little-known 1971 women’s soccer tournament that drew the biggest crowds ever for a women’s athletic event; and Suh and Mones’ film about the women who accused Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct.

In addition, he noted a group of films that tell indigenous stories, including Suvi West and Anssi Kömi’s “Homecoming,” Andrés Peyrot’s “God Is a Woman” and Stevie Salas and James Burns’ “Boil Alert,” as well as a number of docs about war and migration, including Amer’s Ukraine-set “Defiant” and two films about refugees, Kasia Smutniak’s “Walls” and Maciek Hamela’s “In the Rearview.”

On Monday, TIFF announced its first group of galas and special screenings, which included several other nonfiction films, among them the music documentaries “Hate to Love: Nickelback” by Leigh Brooks and “Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” by Alex Gibney.

Additional documentaries will be announced in the coming weeks.

TIFF Docs

“Boil Alert,” Stevie Salas, James Burns | Canada/USA
World Premiere

“Bye Bye Tiberias,” Lina Soualem | France/Belgium/Qatar/Palestine
North American Premiere
Sales Title

OPENING NIGHT FILM:
“Copa 71,” Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Defiant,” Karim Amer | Ukraine/United Kingdom/USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Flipside,” Chris Wilcha | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“God is a Woman,” Andrés Peyrot | France/Switzerland/Panama
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Homecoming,” Suvi West, Anssi Kömi | Finland/Norway
World Premiere

“In the Rearview,” Maciek Hamela | Poland/France/Ukraine
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros,” Frederick Wiseman | France/USA
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa,” Lucy Walker | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,” Robert McCallum | Canada
World Premiere

“Silver Dollar Road,” Raoul Peck | USA
World Premiere

“Songs of Earth,” Margreth Olin | Norway
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Sorry/Not Sorry,” Caroline Suh, Cara Mones | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Stamped From the Beginning,” Roger Ross Williams | USA
World Premiere

“Summer Qamp,” Jen Markowitz | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Contestant,” Clair Titley | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Mother of All Lies,” Asmae El Moudir | Morocco/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Qatar
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“The Pigeon Tunnel,” Errol Morris | United Kingdom/USA/Hungary
International Premiere

“The World is Family,” Anand Patwardhan | India
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Viva Varda!,” Pierre-Henri Gibert | France
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Walls,” Kasia Smutniak | Italy
World Premiere

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