Toronto: Louis C.K. Accusers Film, Serena Williams’ ‘Copa 71’ Highlight Documentary Program

Etan Vlessing
·3 min read

The soccer documentary Copa 71, from executive producers Serena Williams and Venus Williams, is set to open the Toronto Film Festival’s Docs sidebar as it recounts the 1971 Women’s World Cup tournament in Mexico City.

The documentary from directors Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine will have its world premiere at TIFF. New Black Films, Dogwoof and Westbrook Studios are producing.

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Toronto also booked world premieres for Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road, about a Black family fighting to save their North Carolina property from land-grabbing developers; Anand Patwardhan’s The World is Family, which recounts the director’s parents helping lead India’s independence movement; and Karim Amer’s Defiant, about Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and his battle against disinformation.

There’s also a world premiere for Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’ Sorry/Not Sorry, a portrait of women who accused comedy giant Louis C.K. of sexual harassment, with consequences for their careers. And TIFF booked first looks for Lucy Walker’s Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, a portrait of a single mother working as a dishwasher while breaking records as a mountain climber; and Roger Ross Williams’ Stamped From the Beginning, a film about anti-Black racism in the U.S.

In all, TIFF unveiled 22 documentaries from 12 countries, which includes added world premieres for Clair Titley’s The Contestant, about a Japanese reality TV show participant; Robert McCallum’s Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, a film about an iconic Canadian kids entertainer; and Chris Wilcha’s Flipside, a new doc from the director of the This American Life TV series about attempting to save a New Jersey record store while facing a mid-life crisis.

There are also world premieres for Boil Alert, from Canadian directors Stevie Salas and James Burns as they portray Layla Staats exploring the Indigenous relationship to water and her own identity as a Mohawk woman; Homecoming, by Suvi West and Anssi Kömi and about the Indigenous Sámi people fighting for their stolen ancestral heritage; and Jen Markowitz’s Summer Qamp, about an LGBTQ+ summer camp in the Canadian Rockies.

Kasia Smutniak’s Walls is also getting a world premiere in Toronto. The doc follows refugees navigating the “red zone” along the Belarusian-Polish border while evading arrest. Toronto also booked a North American premiere for 93-year-old director Frederick Wiseman’s Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, which captures a French restaurant having held three Michelin stars for over 50 years.

There will also be an international premiere for Errol Morris’ The Pigeon Tunnel, a portrait of the spy novelist David Cornwell ― a.k.a. John Le Carré.

The Toronto Film Festival, set to run from Sept. 7 to 17, will make additional lineup announcements in the coming weeks.

A complete list of the TIFF Docs section follows:

Boil Alert, Stevie Salas | James Burns, Canada/USA

Bye Bye Tiberias, Lina Soualem | France/Belgium/Qatar/Palestine

Copa 71, Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine | United Kingdom

Defiant, Karim Amer | Ukraine/United Kingdom/USA

Flipside, Chris Wilcha | USA

God Is a Woman, Andrés Peyrot | France/Switzerland/Panama

Homecoming, Suvi West, Anssi Kömi | Finland/Norway

In the Rearview, Maciek Hamela | Poland/France/Ukraine

Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, Frederick Wiseman | France/USA

Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, Lucy Walker | USA

Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, Robert McCallum | Canada

Silver Dollar Road, Raoul Peck | USA

Songs of Earth, Margreth Olin | Norway

Sorry/Not Sorry, Caroline Suh, Cara Mones | USA

Stamped From the Beginning, Roger Ross Williams | USA

Summer Qamp, Jen Markowitz | Canada

The Contestant, Clair Titley | United Kingdom

The Mother of All Lies, Asmae El Moudir | Morocco/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Qatar

The Pigeon Tunnel, Errol Morris | United Kingdom/USA/Hungary

The World Is Family, Anand Patwardhan | India

Viva Varda! Pierre-Henri Gibert | France

Walls, Kasia Smutniak | Italy

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